BOXING DAY, 1953- A CRICKETING EPIC

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28161, 27 December 1956, Page 10

BOXING DAY, 1953A CRICKETING EPIC

In all the long history of test cricket, there have been few occasions so charged with drama and excitement, pathos and brilliance as the second day of New Zealand's second test against South Africa on Boxing Day, 1953. New Zealand’s contributions to test cricket have been, by and large, a few personalities, with an occasional performance of note, and, of course the first New Zealand test victory at Auckland last season. But the Johannesburg test was quite divorced from everyday cricket affairs. A cricketing playwright would hardly have dared invent quite so melodramatic an affair.

The villain of the piece was the pitch, which was extremely lively, particularly in rhe mornings. The theory advanced in explanation was that heavy rain before the match had caused the soil to settle over a drain several feet in width running beneath the pitch, leaving a minute depression. At all events, the ball often rose alarmingly at one end. and although on the first day South Africa scored 259 for eight, at one stage the score was 43 for three, and only the missing of seven catches failed to cause the collapse which threatened. It was in the early morning of the second day that events began to move towards the high drama of the afternoon. The New Zealand fast bowler. Bob Blair, received a cable message informing him that a very close friend had been killed in the Tangiwai train disaster. Blair was stricken, and was not at the ground when New Zealand went out to field again.

In Trouble Soon South Africa was out for 271. and before lunch New Zealand was in dire trouble. The tall, strong young Springbok fast bowler. Neil Adcock, made the ball fly violently from a length. Reid was struck five sickening blows in the 25 minutes of his innings. L. S. M. Miller was hit heavily. He tried to continue, but he was badly shaken and was 1 coughing blood. The South African captain. J. E. Cheetham. persuaded him to leave the field. Then B. Sutcliffe, trying to hook, one which flew from a length, was felled by a blow on the left ear. He was helped off the ground, , Other batsmen had similar diffi- ! culties—M. E. Chapple was bowled by a ball which jumped, hit a glove, and bounced off the bats-[ man’s chest to the stumps. By lunch the score was 41.-with four' out, two injured, and one out of I the game. It was announced at the interval that Miller had been advised by a doctor not to bat again and that Sutcliffe had collapsed twice while being examined. But in the afternoon, when John Beck, in his first test, was out after batting coolly for an hour. Miller came in again. He was in pain, but batted with dogged courage. When he went. New Zealand was 82 fori Epic Innings So to Sutcliffe, who came out again, heavily bandaged, paie as parchment. He began an epic of an innings by swinging his third ’ ball, from Dave Ironside, over j square leg for six. When Tayfield came on. Sutcliffe hit a gorgeous i straight six to avert the follow-J on. Two calls later it was another; six, and with Frank Mooney offer-; ing bitter defence.the pair scored 50 in 39 minutes. By that time Mooney was also injured—struck on the left hand by Adcock. Mooney was out soon after tea. Tony Mac Gibbon was beautifully caught, and Guy Overton came irn as last man. Sutcliffe hit another six off Tayfield, but Overton was out at 154. and the play[ers began to move off the field. Then Blair’s appearance gave a dramatic day an unforgettable cli“Sympathy for Blair in his sor- ■ row and admiration for his courage in carrying on were natural, but somehow the whole vast crowd' —normally more matter of fact-: than most —became as one at this! i poignant moment, a moment the i : New Zealanders and others will recall with vivid clarity all their | lives.’’ ran a contemporary account. “He walked out into the: ; sunshine, finding it pathetically: i difficult to put on his gloves, and the huge crowd stood for him. ; silent as he went. . . . His cour- j ■ age was unexcelled in a match [ which made heavy demands on the New Zealanders. To takej : physical knocks and to come back i for more is admirable, but to!

carry on after one’s world has' fallen about one's ears surely requires an effort quite out of the ordinary.” Sutcliffe’s genius was given full expression then. Three times in an over he hit Tayfield into the seething, excited spectators, then took a single to retain the strike . Blair finished the over with a tre-i mendous blow which sent the ball into a half-demented crowd—2s; from the over. The pair scored 33 in 10 minutes before Blair was 1 out. “So the batsmen came back, and there was a last little unforgetable gesture,” the report said 'Sutcliffe . . . was quite entitled to regard the tumult of cheering as a tribute to his skill and daring. But he stood aside at the gate, allowing Blair to pass in first. I They went, arms about each other, into the darkness of the tunnel, but behind them they left a light and an inspiration that several thousand lectures on how to play j the forward defensive stroke could. never kindle.” ■ The greatness of a nation m ! i sport need and indeed, should not; be measured by test match victories.