"ENGLAND IN DEEP, DARK HOLE"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 50, 1 March 1937, Page 9

"ENGLAND IN DEEP, DARK HOLE"

AUSTRALIAN COLTS SHINE IN FIFTH TEST

The prediction of an English writer that, if Bradman were lo go, Australia would be unlikely lo make another hundred runs was convincingly answered when the fifth cricket Test was continued at Melbourne on Saturday. Play had scarcely been resumed before a ball from Fames which the batsman missed com* plelely brought Bradman's fine innings to a close. Into the breach stepped the colt Gregory, and he and Badcock, the other over-night batsman, proceeded to, punish the English bowling just as severely •as Bradman and McCabe had done on Friday. Not until they had added 161 runs were they separated, Badcock becoming the third batsman to score an individual century. With the tail wagging vigorously, Australia, at stumps, required only eight more runs to pass their record Test aggregate on their own soil of 600, one wicket remaining to fall. -The two colts have been highly praised for their performance, and tributes have also been paid lo Fames, England's most successful bowler. Although the y "Sydney Morning Herald" admits that the game is not yet won and'some English writers retain a degree of optimism, the general verdict of the critics is that England is in serious trouble. The London "Observer" comments that England is "in a deep, dark hole," and that "England's greatest batting side might well shiver at the sight of 593 for nine." C. G. Macartney says that the "huge score has relieved Australia of^ any worry about rain." ' ■