A USEFUL LEAD.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 108, 8 May 1909, Page 5

A USEFUL LEAD.

ONCE AGAIN ARMSTRONG. By "Half -Volley." Thanks principally to Armstrong and Trumper, with Bardsley and Carter nor. to be forgotten, Australia has a useful lead of 150 on the first innings. This looks quite a winning card, unless G. Gunn and Hardstaff repeat some of thei'colonial scores. Warren Bardsley, the great left-hander, has begun the tour very auspiciously, and will prove no mean substitute for Clem Hill. Fifty four in fifty-seven minutes is as fas« scoring as most; fieAling teams care about, and the left-hander apparently played a chanceless innings. By shesr grit he forced his. merits on the selectors, and then amply * justified their choice. He deserves all his success. Little Carter, reputedly pale, careworn, and stale ere he left for Home, has been toned up by the ocean ozone to some effect, and liis first 1909 innings on tour indicates a strong convalescence at least. The cable mentions his fine cutting, and Carter, at his best, is excelled by none — not even by Trumper — in this respect. On a wicket asking questions the small "keeper" shines dazzingly. whipping the bowling to pieces with wrists of steel. The little man only wants to be in form to punish any bowling on any wicket. He allowed only five sundries in Notts's first innings, and stopped two men, so his eye and hands are evidently working harmoniously. TRUMPER AND ARMSTRONG. Ransford and Gregory failed for the nonce, but there need be no misgivings over their failures. The Melbourne boy will probably take time to gauge the much slower English wickets, and when he does the Home.. boj^s .sill knojr.

him for a batsman, and one of the best. He got out apparently o n his favourite leg-pull. But Trumper and Armstrong made ample recompense for their unlucky comrades, aggregating a round 200 runs between them. Opening quietly (this is a good sign with Trumper), they punished Wass, Hallam, Iremonger, and company to a merry tune, the fieldsmen, doubtless, footing it right merrily. For with Victor Trumper swinging his facile bat, and the Melbourne giant driving and half-volleying fiercely, as he does, it is no Sunday-school picnic. Jones dropped Trumper at 14 — poor Jones. No doubt Hallam felt the miss badly, though it must have been a stinging hot chance to outwit A. 0. Jones, who is a clinking field— better in the slips, perhaps, than anywhere. Trumper left at 94, Hallam beating him with a nippy ball he tried to pull. Mainly as a result of the partnership, 200 went up in 150 minutes. Armstrong got 55 in 58 minutes, and his century in just under the three hours, and, as we are informed, played a flawless innings. With- five wickets for 55 and 106 not out, the big man has bagged a fine double for a start. One anticipates a big gamebag when the beaters clean up at the tour's end. Regarding Cotter's wild lunging, that could be anticipated in each and every innings of the Glebe bowler. One can sympathise with the Notts "keeper" at missing the "skyscraper," since 'waiting under one of Cotter's mishits of a screwing ball is inclined to make a man nervous, if not tired. THE BOWLERS. Armstrong, with his unique leg theory, apparently elean x bowled four batsmen, which is rather unusual for a bowler who relies more on his on-field or an lbw than anything else. His de livery is the dangerously high one of a tall man, and his length is monotonously accurate, added to which he spins in occasionally. Whitty, whose selection provoked so much controversy, accounted for two of the weaker bats at a not expensive cost, •but Cotter's two for 73 suggests that Jones helped himself pretty impartially to some long hops on either side. Noble bowled but little, and he is wise to save himself. O'Connor took one for 38, but requires a less respectable wicket for success. For Notts, Wass (four for 107) and Hallam (six for 144), two of the most consistent trundlers playing county cricket, shared the wickets, though both were pretty expensive. Iremonger, who headed the bowling averages for his county last season, suffered without any solatium. With Hardstaff at the crease, it look? very much as though his eleven has not a superabundance of bowlers. Notts are still 92 to the bad, with the skipper out for 30, and G. Gunn. It is right up to Hardstaff to make amends this innings.