CRICKET

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 257, 14 July 1926, Page 6

CRICKET

THE THIRD TEST KANGAROO TWISTS THE LION'S TAIL CARR’S SAD MISTAKE (By "Burwood.”) Tiio Australians must have jumped for jov when Carr, the English captam, alter winning the toss at Leeds on Saturday morning, sent the Australians in to bat at the commencement ot the third Test match. It is rare indeed that a captain is justified in sending his opponents to the wickets in an important cricket engagement. loor Carr’s ears must be burning with the buzzin" of adverse comment which has been -rning on since he made his momentous decision. Had Carr held that catch from Al a car luey oft the tilth ball of Tate’s opening over, however, a different story might have had to be written. As Bardsley went with the first ball of the match, the downfall of Macartney in the same over would have had Australia on the run. "It was an easy catch,” reported the cablegrams, but P. T. Warner, one of the English selectors, does not bear this out. "It was a nasty catch,” the old English captain writes, in the "Morning Post,” "though Carr seldom misses a <atch. Then, again, Richardson was dropped bv Gear® at first slip off Macaulay, when he' had scored 23. Truly, it was not England’s day. ,It was a wonderful performance which .Macartney and Woodfull put up. After the board showed G—l—X) this pair of sterling batsmen carried the total to 235, when Macartney, who had played brilliant cricket for 151, was at last taken at mid-off by Hendren off Macaulay. . This is Macartney’s third century in a Test match against England, as he hit up 170 at Sydney in the 1920-21 season, and scored 115 at Leeds the following season. Macartney is one of tho most dashing batsmen in the world, and the great ovation the crowd gave him as he came in testified to the pleasure he had given even to the ranks of Tuscany. The 235 which Macartney and viooctfull put on for the second wicket on Saturday is easily a record for this wicket in Test matches between Australia and England, as the previous best was the 190 put on by Collins and Ponsford at Sydney in the 1924-25 season. England’s best stand for the second wicket was 152 registered by W. Gunn and A. Shrewsbury at Lord’s in 1893. . The best stand for any wicket in lest matches between Englund and Australia was the 323 scored by Hobbs and Rhodes for England for the first wicket at Melbourne, in the 1911-12 season, when England won the ashes. While Macartney was delighting the crowd with his batting, at the other end was AV. M. Woodiull, as solid as a rock. New Zealanders know this player well, as he was over here with the Victorian team in 1925. The sturdy Victorian is soundness personified, but he has plenty of good scoring strokes, and is always worth watching. iheie are few batsmen in the game to-day who are harder to dislodge. According to the "Daily Ma : l,” the English professionals have christened him "The Worm Killer,” but ho will kill many more English worms before the tour is ended. He made his 131 not out at Leeds on Saturday without a chance, and he was at the wickets while 366 runs were scored. . _ , , ~ , It was good luck for England that rain caniv on at 5.29 o’clock, and interrupted play, otherwise a much heavier toll would have been taken from the tired English bowling. To show how the runs were coming late in Hie afternoon, it is only necessary to state that Woor.'full end Richardson put on 117 for the third wicket in 96 minutes. Tt would appear that the English selectors made n mistake in not including Root in the

team. The Worcestershire man did better than either Taio or Fnrwond in the second Test match, as ho captured two for 70. whereas Tate had to b<> content with two for 111. and Larwood with two for 99. Australia. certainly had a bjg

slice of luck in being. sent in to

bat on a wicket which yielded 366 for three wickets. The cables tell us that no fewer than six selectors and advisers _ examined the pitch before the decision to put Australia in first was macle. . Much ink is be’n? s T> llt ,n , . Ole Lunnon” over the sad error of IWment the English captain and his multitude of counsellors made. If I hact been in Carr’s place I would have put on Root and Parker to open the howlin"”.is a remark attributed to A. MacT.aren, Seeing that neither Root nor Parker were included in the team it would have been difficult for Carr to have opened with them. , The whole joke of the matter is that the English selectors imagined it was a bowler’s wicket when it was just the opposite. England had the laugh during the Second Test match; it is now Australia’s turn to make merry. F.nrtnnd has never had a really great leader since P. F Warner handed over Hie reins. J. W. TT. T. Douglas was an experienced cantain, I>ut he had the had luck to he in command when rncrlish cricket was in the doldrums. When Dourtns wa« thrown overboard as the Jonah. England went from hnd to worse. First of all they tried the Hon. H. Y. Tennvson and then switched over to A. E. Gilligan. "Uneasy lies the head that wears n crown," and poor Carr Ops now to suffer the wrath of the nation when things go wrong. Tho Test match now in progress is the ll?th between Australia and England. Of those Australia has won 47 and England 41, while 21 have heen loft drawn.