Underwood Hero Of England’s Test Win

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31770, 29 August 1968, Page 14

Underwood Hero Of England’s Test Win

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A

LONDON.

England won the fifth test againsl minutes to spare in one of the most thrillin

Australia lost its last five wickets on a damp pitch after a thunderstorm had flooded the Oval. England’s win levelled the series, 1-all, with three games drawn.

The hero for England was its left-hander, D. L. Underwood, who captured four wickets for six runs in 27 deliveries. His match figure was seven wickets for 50 from 31.3 overs.

R. J. Inveracity, the last man dismissed for Australia, had the top score of 56. There were remarkable scenes afterwards as the crowd massed in front of the Oval members’ stand and cheered the players as they came on to the balcony. England’s skipper, M. C. Cowdey, who had seen rain rob England of two earlier

possible test wins, feared the worst when the thunderstorm flooded the Oval. The 20 ground staff worked feverishly from the moment the rain eased. The umpires supervised as the staff swept pools of water to the outfield, scuttled up and down the field with absorbent rollers, drove iron spikes into the ground to assist drainage and placed bagging alongside the pitch to dry up moisture. The umpires ordered a resumption 75 minutes before the match was to end. Australia, five down for 86, was caught on a damp, but drying wicket. Inverarity, playing the innings of his life, and B. N. Jarman battled through half an hour without mishap until B. L. D’Oliveira, tried as a last resort, took Jarman’s offbail. Like A Scythe Then 1 Underwood swept through the Australian tailend batting like a scythe. He removed A. Mallett and G. D. McKenzie, caught at short leg in one over, then knocked back J. W. Gleeson’s offstump. Cowdrey encircled the beleaguered Australian batsmen with the entire England side at pick-pocket distance from the bat The Oval clock showed seven minutes to six when Inverarity, cool and composed in the crisis, faced up to Underwood. He played two deliveries, but was taken by surprise by the next, which came back in the air with the arm and at a much brisker pace. Inverarity padded up in desperation and 11 English voices on the field and 8000 in the stands bellowed an appeal. The umpire, Mr C. Elliott, slowly and deliberately raised

t Australia with six ig finishes of all time. the finger that signalled the end of the test.

England, in the end, had won by the commanding margin of 226 runs. Nobody could begrudge England's win, for the side had held complete tactical advantage in the Lord’s and Edgbaston tests, which were cut short by rain. Only three Australian batsmen in the final day’s secondinnings collapse for 125'had reached double figures. Inverarity, for so long the tour disappointment, had emerged with new stature for hjs innings of 56, achieved after 248 minutes of sustained concentration. ENGLAND First Innings ~ Second Innings .. 181 AUSTRALIA First Innings ...324 Second Innings R. J. Inverarity lbw b Underwood ... 56 W. M. Lawry c Milburn b Brown 4 I. R. Red path lbw b Underwood .8 I. M. Chappell lbw b Underwood 2 K. D. Walters c Knott b. Underwood .. 1 A. P. Sheahan c Snow b Illingworth .. 24 B. N. Jarman b D'Oliveira 21 A. Mallett c Brown b Underwood 0 G. D. McKenzie c Brown b Underwood 0 J. W. Gleeson b Underwood 5 A. N. Connolly not out .. 0 Extras (leg-byes 4) ..4 Total 125 Fall of wickets: one for 4, two for 13, three for 14, four for 29, five for 65, six for 110, seven for 110, eight for 110, nine for 120.

BOWLING O M R W. J. Snow .11 5 22 0 D. Brown . 8 3 19 1 D. Underwood 31.3 19 50 7 R. Illingworth 28 18 29 1 B. D'Oliveira 5 4 11