FLOOD TIDE IN FINAL TEST

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 50, 1 March 1937, Page 8

FLOOD TIDE IN FINAL TEST

Since her heavy defeats in the first two matches of the present Test cricket series the tide has gradually turned in favour of Australia and seems now, in the final and decisive game at Melbourne, to have been "taken at the flood" that "leads on to fortune"-r-and the retention of the Ashes. In this turn of the tide the luck of the toss and the dogged resolution of the Australian captain, Don Bradman, have been the salient features in one of the greatest struggles in cricket history to retrieve victory from defeat. : Today at Melbourne Australia, with a total of 593 for nine wickets, in a first innings covering two days' play, is for the moment on top, "in a commanding position," as the veteran cricketer-critic, J. B. Hobbs, says, with this proviso: Although the majority of Australians will say England haven't a chance, I argue that if the positions were reversed they would still have every confidence in the ability of their side to win. I haven't given up hope, but I am like a drowning man. Hobbs knows cricket when 'he "clutches at straws." On the same Melbourne ground in the second Test of the 1924-25 series Australia, batting.first, made their record total of exactly 600 (Ponsford 128, V. Y. Richardson J3B). Facing "this "commanding position" of their opponents, Hobbs and . Sutcliffe, most famous opening pair, scored between them 330 runs- (Hobbs 154, Sutcliffe 176) and, if the rest of England had followed this lead even moderately, Australia's total might have been passed. As it was the Englishmen made '479, only 121 behind Australia. Australia's second innings realised only a modest 250, and England with 372 to make to win were not in a hopeless position. Sutcliffe with another century gave his side a good start, but they did not quite succeed and had to admit defeat by 81 runs. So . there is still a chance for England such as they look again at Melbourne in 1928-29 when they scored in the fourth innings of the match 332 for six wickets and won. For Australia the feature of Saturday's play was the success of the two young colts— Badcock and Gregory, who held the fort when Bradman fell, and drew the plaudits of the veterans. The oncoming of youth is the hope of cricket.