THE TESTS AND AFTER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 53, 4 March 1937, Page 8

THE TESTS AND AFTER

| Luck was rather unkind to the Englishmen in their uphill struggle against the Australians in the final Test cricket at Melbourne, and the fifth act of the greatest cricket drama in the history of the Tests ended somewhat tamely in the complete extinction of England by an innings' and 200 runs and Australia's retention of the Ashes. No excuses heed be made. On the whole the luck was not so unevenly divided in an odd number of matches that it made all the difference between victory and defeat. Allen, the English capjtain, put it fairly when he said— certainly in a tone of disappointment —"Undoubtedly the best side won. We also encountered Bradman in his best form with the bat and his infernal coin." There is also the fact that both the, captain and his team suffered from what Allen described as "the intense strain of the tour.'' This, coupled with the special strain of hard-fought Test matches, in which the issue was in doubt to the final game, unquestionably tended to-, staleness on the part of the visitors. There will be every sympathy for Allen who, as an /English critic observed, "turned a poor team into a good one," and gave the Australians the biggest fright they have ever had in a Test series. Happily, if England did not win the Ashes, they won something better, the reestablishment of England's reputation for sportsmanship in the eyes of Australia. After the strenuous times in Australia the visit of the! team to New Zealand will be something of a relaxation. By a fortunate arrangement it will be possible for the first time in Wellington to see an English Test team, fresh from Australia, in action against a New| Zealand representative team on the eve of its departure for England. In the freedom of a friendly game, away from the tense atmosphere of the Tests, cricket should then be seen at its best.