FIRST TEST MATCH.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 69, 14 December 1907, Page 6

FIRST TEST MATCH.

'ENGUND'S SCORE ONLY FAIR,

TOTAL ONE WICKET FOR 50. ; G..'. GUNN'S -DEBUT-A CENTURY. -BOWLING SUCCESS'OF COTTER AND . ARMSTRONG. ' BT TELEGBAPH—FKESs' ASSOCIATION—COrYHIOHT. ■ J ■ ■ ' (Rec. Dec'. 13, 8.15 p.m.) Sydney, December 13. For the first Test Match between England 'and 'Australia, commenced to-day, the ; westher was fine,'with-a-fresh breeze. The wicket was in excellent order. Fane, who, in the absenco of Jones; .was skipper of the Englishmen, won tho'.'toss- from Noble, and elected to bat. Gunn., replaced Humpliries, Young taking the ila'tter's place at the wickets.

:'',:A BAD START. ;Young" and Fane faced Cotter and Hazlitt. The fast bowler had eight knocked; off him in the,first'over, but had his revenge in the third over, when,Trumper snapped Fane up in the slips—one for ll'.' J; ' ..' Cotter' was again successful in the following over. Carter making a brilliant catch at the ..wickets, dismissing ypung, who had done the only'bit of scoring to date—two for 18.

A NEEDED,,STAND. With, the score at 26,'Saunders relieved Hazlitt. Hutchings ...scqired with freedom, clean, hard strokes; and 50 appeared on the board after forty minutes' play. Gunn 'was playing "cautiously at this stage.

Armstrong replaced Cotter, and, as he kept an -excellent length, the: batsmen did. not appear at/.home with ! him; Gunn, whohad been 'at the' wickets. : ior some_ time, -gained confidence; an'd-the score, crept up "steadily. Although the cricket was not of a fjrilliant order, it was sound. Then Hutchings mishit one back to Armstrong—three for 91. 'the century up.

■-,■ M'Cartney 'relieved, Saunders, and Armstrong;' who was mixing his'pace, was treated with great : respect. The century was hoisted as the'result, of :120 : -minutes' play, and this .brought Cotter on again.' The fast bowler 'took' M'Cartney's'end; Noble at : the same time' 'relieving '(Armstrong, -The doublo change,,.however,.-had, no qffect, and then the luncheon adjournment.was taken.

After lunch Gunn played fine cricket and brought bis -half-century'up, after being at the wickets eight minutes,, over tho hour. Braund appeared .content to jeave most ofthe work-to his.partner. Tho scoring was not brisk, which:fact was chiefly due to the excellent fielding of the Colonials.

ARMBTRONC BOWLINC FINELY. At-126 the local r skipper (Noble) gave way to Armstrong, and,'as the Victorian bowler was,,difficult -to' negotiate, tho batsmen devoted themselves.; chiefly, to Cotter. Gunn, in particular, scored freely off the fast.bowler, who, eventually gave way to Hazlitt. Gunn continued -to ' make some beautiful strokes, mainly on the leg side. . ■• ; ' Armstrong meanwhile had Braund completely tied up; and the batsman \narrowly escaped being'stumpsd in playing'forward'to •the Victorian. Gunn continued to play with the utmost freedom.and confidence; driving and 'cutting the leather to. the. boundary in rapid succession. 'Braund was scoring painfully slowly, and' had at this time been at ,the wickets for sixty-six minutes for 16 runs.

CUNN REACHES THREE FIGURES. At 180 Saunders relieved Hazlitt, and off the former's first,hall (Sunn, by a boundary hit, brought; up, amidst cheers,' his century for 122 minutes' play. f His late cuts wero brilliantly executed. Noble again came on, taking Armstrong's, end, and ttien Gunn gave his, first chance, his-total'being 112: ,'Clem Hill had the chance in the-slips; 'but he failed to get .under the ball; and as-the result four were scored. „','.., •;...,' , The second century then appeared on the board, at which stage Armstrong went on ■ again in place; of Noble, and Cotter took Saunders' end. ./The. change, as it usually doesj brought'about the'.desircd effect. Gunn put up Cotter in the slips, and Hazlitt mado a clever .catch—four'for 208. The retiring batsman's score included.twenty fourers.

■''■■'. THE TURNIMC POINT. Hardstaff then partnered Braund, but the latter was almost immediately bowled by Cotter—five for .221. Rhodes filled the gap, hut in attempting a risky run a smart returnto Carter terminated (!hjs career, and the sheet-read 6ix : for-222)vfrv( -..-.-■, After the tea adjournment Crawford joined Hardstaff, but still runs-came slowly. Armstrong, and, Cotter .were, well on the spot, and conld not.be..trifled, with. In fact, they tied up the batsmen time after time. FINALE. After a deal of cautious play, Armstrong ■got a beauty, past Hardstaff,, which completely bea.f him--and he retiped with a dozen —seven for 246. . ... •,.,.,,; 1 Barnes had a very short shrift.' He scored a single, and thori otto of Cotter's lightningjerkors broke his leg stump'in half, and tho tally' was eight for 253. ' Blythe joined Crawford, and the latter hit three boundaries in succession, but before he could, renew the attack 'Armstrong beat, him ■-j-nine for'27l.' ■■•-■•"• Then Blythe succumbed easily to Cotter, and the innings closed with the score at 273. : FJ.RST, AUSTRAUI.ANWICKET FALLS , " ' CHEAPLY. ■ About 15,000 . people'.'.were present, when the Australians began their first innings. Trumper ; and Macalister opened for the Colonials, to the howling of Barnes and Fioidc'r.'., With.,,4 „on ...the . sheet, Macalister placed Barnes into Hutchings' hands in tho -slips, and the board showed one-for 4. Hill thon partnered Trumper, and both scored freely, Trumper. particularly playing stylish cricket. A separation had not been brought'about when; trmo was called, the score being then one wicket for 50. "The following -aro the details of tho scores:— ■ ENCLAND. ■•. First Inni-nos. Fano, c. Trumper, b.'Cottor 2 Young, c. Carter, b. Cotter 13 Gunn, c. Hazlitt, b. Cottor 119 Hutchings, c. and b: Armstrong 42 Braund, b. Cottor ... 30 Hardstaff, h. Armstrong 12 Rhodes, run out ... 1 Crawford, • b; Armstrong 31 Harnos, b. Cobtor ... 1 -Blythe, b.'Cotter,, ... • ;.. • ■ 5 Fielder, not out ... . I 1 Sundries . > 16 Total: ,„ ~, .... ~. 278

Bowling Analysis. Cotter, six wickets for 101. Saunders, no wickets for 42. Armstrong, three wickets for 63. M'Cartnoy, no wiclcets for 5. Noblo, no wickets for 11. Hazlitt, no wickots for 32. AUSTRALIA. First Jstmncs. Macalistor, c. Hutchings, b. Barnes ... 3 Trumper, not out 31 Hill, not out 16 Total, for one wicket ... ' ... 50 The Englishmen's innings is a peculiar one. They started badly—as the Australians' did later—witli n wicket down for almost nothing, hut four wickets for 203 read not at all badly. That was, however, tho turning point. Four wickets such as Brnund (with a slow and laboured .10), Ilardataff (12), Rhodes (1), and Crawford (31), added scarcely half a century to the previous total. With the fnilure of such fine punishing bats as Hnrdstaff and Crawford, it. is perhaps not surprising . that the bowlers—Barnes, Blythe, and Fielder—did little, and a score that at one stage seemed to promise four centuries fell considerably short of three.

The principal destroying element is Cotter, with 6 wickots for 101, three being bowled. Evidently the pitch suited the fast bowler. Armstrong seems to have well earned his 3 wickets for 63, having tied up the batsmen re-, peatcdly, particularly Brannd, who was finally' bowled by Cotter. The others bowled steadily, but there was no wicket for (them, Rhodes being run out. The wicket seems to have been favourable to the batsmen, so tho Australian bowlers and' field may take full credit. A peculiar feature'of the Englishmen's innings is that the backbone of it proved to be. a man who was not picked in the team, but who happened to be in, Australia for his health., Those, who .will call this a slice of luck for England, are,. however, liable to the retort that the poor showing of tho other Eng-lish-batsmen on a good wicket is a bit. of the other sort of hick, and is a thing not likely to recur. When the team loft Fingland it was announced that .G. Gunn (Notts), who was touring for- his health,, "may play on emergency; ' and it would seem that the emergency arising on the illness of A. O. Jones has found a man worthy of it. This is Gunn's first appearance with the present team. George Gunn and John Gunn both play for Notts, and in, tho season just closed they follow each other in the list of English batting averages, G. Gunn, being 21st and J. Gunn 22nd, the former with, an average of 32.72 for 32 innings, and the latter'having 32.60'f0r 34 innings. In tho preceding season. G. Gunn was batting well when he had to.'give, up cricket for the rest of the season, owing to an attack of hemorrhage of 'the lungs. ■ . .