LIMITLESS CRICKET

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 50, 27 August 1938, Page 8

LIMITLESS CRICKET

The case for limitless cricket Tests does not appear to have been advanced very far by the match which concluded at the Kennington Oval this week. By occupying the crease for approximately fifteen and a quarter hours and compiling the mammoth total of 903 for seven wickets, at which stage the English captain, Hammond, showed a sense of the fitness of things by applying the closure, English batsmen demonstrated what might happen on. a perfect English wicket under conditions which apply in Australia. If Australia had not been so severely handicapped by the injuries to Bradman and Fingleton and had been able to fight back as they have done so often in the past, the Test might have developed into a farce and might have been going still. As it was, English critics have seen fit to describe what happened, even after the first day, as "a ridiculous travesty" and have spoken of "long weary days." There does seem to be some justification for their comment. Even the wonder bowler O'Reilly, described as the world's best, was unable to make any impression on the Oval wicket, and the batsmen, adding caution to the natural advantages they enjoyed, went on their undisturbed way to, smash all previous records. The youthful Hutton and those who assisted him to build up the runs are deserving of all credit for their performance, but the fact that they were able to get so far suggests that cricket played without regard to time limits and on wickets which provide the bowlers with an almost hopeless task may be in danger of losing some of its virtue as a sport.