THE SECOND TEST MATCH.

Evening Star, Issue 12093, 14 January 1904, Page 7

THE SECOND TEST MATCH.

[Bt Oto Own Repobtkb.] “Nothing happens by chance,” said Democritus, in combating the theory prevalent in his time that the phenomena of nature were due to the caprices of the gods. But test matches were not in the days of Democritus, or perhaps he would have modified his opinion. The first great element of chance—the spin of the coin on Friday morning—favored' Warner, and with the weather turning out as it did, first use of the wicket proved an incalculable advantage.

—The Englishmen’s Luck.— But not very many people begrudged the Englishmen their luck in this respect at the time, for botli Arnold and Bosanquet, who would have been included in the team, had been forced to stand down through injury, and the loss of Foster’s services after the first day further handicapped them. Yet when all is said and done, the luck of batting on a wicket which suited them to a nicety—true as a billiard table and not so fast as the general run of Australian wickets—save the Englishmen the upper hand all through. Friday was very hot, with the promise of more fine weather to follow, and Hayward and Warner started out as though the contest was to be one of endurance. In other words,'they shaped as though their plan was to keep their wickets up, take absolutely no chances, and wear down the Australian bowling. Foster and Tyldesley, who also batted the. same day, followed pretty much the same tactics; hut temperament occasionally rose superior to instructions, or policy, or whatever it was, and these two batsmen—masters of all the strokes there are in cricket, and, when not weighed down by responsibility, naturally fast scorers—could not be entirely tied down to the level of dulness instituted by the opening pair. Hayward in other seasons has played some invaluable innings in test matches in Australia, steady, certainly, but enlivened here and there by strong, .masterful strokes. But this innings was not to be compared with them, and, taken with his last season’s record in England, goes to show that tbe Surrey man is not tbe Hayward of old. Warner’s was a better innings on the whole, particularly so before lunch, when be scored much the faster of the pair. “ Plum,” as he is called, was suffering from neuralgia, and had frequently to rub menthol on his face. This was probably due to the anxiety connected with his position, but if he had shown a little more anxiety to put on the runs the packed, perspiring crowd of 32,000 people would have been truly grateful. As it was, they went home discontented with the day’s cricket. Wickets had not fallen to any extent, and fewer—far fewer—runs had been made than the state of the wicket and outfield warranted. There is, however, one consideration to be taken into account, and that is the accurate bowling and the superb fielding of the Australians. All through the long, hot, trying day Gregory was

—As Active as a Cat—at cover-point. He got to and stopped dozens of off strokes that would have been' certain “boundaries,” and Duff at mid-off was little if anything behind him. the umpire, said after the first test match in Sydney that, Gregory saves 50 runs in an ordinary innings, for besides stopping strokes that ordinary fieldsmen would not get to, the Englishmen won’t risk a run when the ball is going to him, his returns are so deadly. This brilliance in fielding and Armstrong’s bowling were -the only things that really roused the crowd, for when it was getting on weE past lunch and no wickets had fallen,- Armstrong looked to be the only bowler with a chance of effecting a separation. He had Warner completely tied up for over after over, and the latter at last took to simply stopping the leg breaks with his pads. Armstrong, however, did not get much sympathy from the crowd, as that is precisely the method he himself had adopted with Braund’s curly ones in the Victorian match a few weeks earEer. In Armstrong’s —“ Leg Theory ” he has a man on the leg side as fine as a slip, and two others close to the bat on the leg ride—aE to take catches almost off the bat. The.rest of the field are also to the on except a cover-point and a mid-off—-no point and no slip. It was wonderful how well placed the men were, for even when the batsmen did hit them thev found it very difficult to get them through tne field. This leg theory was about the only variety there was in —The Australian BowDng,— except, perhaps, that of Saunders, the lefthander, and the only variety when he bowled was that the Englishmen scored much faster than at any other time. It was a mystery to Saunders’s clubmates why he was picked for the Australian Eleven, for they say that on this season’s form-he is barely fit for toe North Melbourne Club eleven. However, with Trumble, Noble, Howell, and Hopkins, all medium-paced right-binders, tbe selectors must have recogntsed the need for variety in the attack, and previous to this match there was an idea that toe Englishmen did not like Saunders. Of the bowlers just mentioned Noble was practically lost to the Australians. He opened the bowling with Trumble, but after sending down six overs for 4 runs be ricked his arm, and bowled no more throughout ffhe match. This was almost as bad luck tor tbe Australians as the way the weather treated them, and the brunt of the work fell on Trumble and Howell. Throughout that hot Friday both stuck to it gamely. But with batsmen carefully abstaining from anything approaching taking risks, and with no assistance from the wicket, the only way to get men out was by wiliness.

—Lost Chances.— Trnmble deserved 'Hayward’s wicket when the latter was only 7 (on which figure Hayward stuck for over half an hour). The bowler completely , deceived the Surrey man with a slow, which he walked out to and missed. The ball went just over the bails, but Kelly did not take it, and let the easiest of chances of stumping go by. Again, on the Saturday Tyldesley was missed off him very simply by Noble. But Trumble himself dropped a couple of catches off other bowlers in the slips during the match, though both - were low down, and rather difficult. A very general opinion was expressed that Harry Trott’s slows would have been invaluable, and both with bat and ball his performances lately against the Englishmen themselves and the strong New South Wales Eleven were quite good enough to justify his inclusion. —Saturday’s Play—

was much curtailed by rain, which, however,' was not enough to affect

the wicket much. Wickets fell x ar faster than on the' previous day, and the only one to stay with Tyldesley for anytime was Braund, who got out through skying Trumble straight up in going for a hit. Stumps were,drawn after only a fraction of a day’s play, and with Tyldesley only wanting 3 for his century. This was the end of good-wicket cricket. On Saturday and Sunday nights and on Monday, morning it was showery, and it .was recognised that the Australians’ only hope was to save a follow on, and to pray for a dry wicket in their second innings. When at last the umpires decided the wicket was dry enough, the Englishmen's innings, which had now extended into the third day,' was soon polished off. Tyldesley went first hail,, and so missed the century. But his was —A Great Innings,— marred only by a angle chance. He is an even better bat than when he was out here with Maclaren’s last team, and with his soundness, style, and infinite resource stands apart from the rest of the batsmen in the team. Next to his innings Foster’s was the most batsmanlike. Poster does not seem to have all the smaller man’s resource, hut he plays the orthodox’game in a graceful style, and though he had the curb on during his innings, he was always pleasant to watch. He seemed to play lie bowling with ease, and his timing was so perfect and his swing from the shoulders in’ driving so natural and free that he sent" the hall off the bat like a flash with a minimum of effort. In build he is inclined to be tall—perhaps Noble’s height and build. The start of the Australians’ first innings was —Quite Sensational.— In fact, from then on to the end the play was as exhilarating and full of incident as it bad been tame and monotonous on the first day. Rhodes opened the, bowling, and his first over was enough to' satisfy anyone that ho had got a wicket to his liking. Trumpet knew little about the first ball he got from him, which went somehow off the bat back over the wicket- ■ keeper’s head, and a ball or two Later he cocked one up between the wickets, which Lillcy dashed down the pitch for, and got his hands on to, but did not hold. Duff got cleverly on to Hirst’s short ones, and though they came shoulder high, and sometimes head high, he banged them to leg. Lilley stood back to Hirst, and the batsmen’s audacity in stealing runs appeared to pass the verge of reason. At length, just as Trumper was settling down, Duff went out to Rhodes—the only game possible as the Yorkshireman was bowling—and Lilley had the hails off in a flash, though there was really no need for hurry. Hill cam© in, and still they stole runs, but after making some clever strokes under difficulties he cocked one of Hirst’s up. Gregmy and Noble came and went, and with four -wickets down for 53, and only Trumper left of the good bats, a score of 50 or 60 looked like the probable limit. The rest of the innings was one long roar of applause as Trumper scored) 10 after 10. First Hopkins and then Kelly stayed with him. the former making some very nice strokes. . Now the hundred became a possibility, and then when that was passed 16

runs were wanted to save the follow-on, which would hava meant certain disaster. Kelly was run out with 11 runs still wanted, and only Howell and Saunders were left. Trumper, however, took command of the bowling, and forcing the pace, as he had been doing right through, he drove and clinched that nail to roars of applause. —A Bowler’s Wicket.— No one cared how soon the innings closed after that, for it was essential to get the Englishmen in again on the difficult wicket, and bag a few of them before it got hard agam, as it promised to do by the next day. This was done, and in the hour left for play five of them had been dismissed, no one being able to look at the bowling except Tyldesley, and his batting, though not quite so dazzling as Tnunper’s, ,was every bit as good. The Australians, at the close of Monday’s play, Tvere then in the best position they had yet been in, as the weather looked like keeping fine—in fact, not many people thought it beyond their powers to pull the game out of tne fire.

—The Treacherous Weather.— But heavy rain fell again during the night and drowned all such hopes and speculations. A drying wind and baking sun on Tuesday made play possible in the afternoon, and when the umpires decided the wicket was fit there was time for the Englishmen to get out and ieave the Australians time for a two-hours’ struggle against Rhodes on a drying wicket. They were not equal to it. Li fact, they did not try to keep their wickets up against time—that is impossible on a sticky wicket with the Yorkshireman. The only way was to go out and hit him. Those who stayed at home to him and tried to play him, as did Trumble and Armstrong in both innings, Gregory in the first, and Hopkins 'in the second, shapied like absolute novices. x —A Great Bowling Feat.— Rhodes was breaking both ways, and as the ball rose high feeling for the break was useless. It was only the quick-footed batsmen like Trumper, Duff, Hill, and Noble who shaped at ail at him. Rhodes kept the ball pretty well up to the batsmen, and the consequence was that the" four players mentioned, who went out to him, showed some fine driving. Trumper and Noble each hit a fiver in the second innings. In fact, fivers were plentiful during the match, for Trumper hit one in the first innings, and Tyldesley in his second innings hit two, all being straight drives over the bowler’s head. Tbe game was ever within a few minutes of six o’cktbk on Tuesday evening, and though England won easily the prevailing impression was that the Australians had put up a good uphill fight, with the luck against them right through. The only interest towards the close was as to whether England’s second innings score would be topped, and this was done with a few runs to spare. —The Heroes of the Match—were undoubtedly Tyldesley and Rhodes for England, and Trumper for Australia. Tremble also was a star to some extent in the bowling, but his light paled alongside, that of Rhodes. Strictly speaking, the young Yorkshireman is not a slow bowler, but rather a medium pace, and not unlike Peel, his predecessor. He is about the same height as was “Bobby,” and taking a short run, or rather walk, of four steps, with a quick double jump approaching the crease, he sends down ball after ball with wonderful accuracy—always on the spot. Hirst was not very successful, but he was a rather disgusted man in the second innings, for caUhes were being dropped off him—Rhodes dropped Trumper very simply in the slips—but then the

—Fielding of the Englishmen— - all round was not good. They had the appearance of being over-anxious, and a great many chances were misged—some badly missed. Trumper was fortunate in this respect, but he was hitting very hard, and the outfields had generally to run some distance, while one or two mis-hits he made must have had tremendous spin on them. The match, from the Australian standpoint, will probably be remembered as

—The Triumph of Trumper. He is probably the most beaut.ful bat in the world to watch. His quickness with h.s feet is wonderful. A great deal of both his innings was pure hitting, though anythmg but wild slogging, but interspersed were some of the most beautifully-executed strokes one could wish to see. When he was able to play back to the bowling, his grace, ease, and mastery over the ball were wonderful, and his cutting was unapproachable. Duff, Hill, and Noble gave evidence that they are in batting form, and Hopkins batted really well in the first innings, but shaped like a different—and much worse man in the second; in fart, one is inclined to class them as a stronger batting team thin the Englishmen. —Australia's Great Meed.— But the bowling is, As was said before, lacking sadly in variety. M‘Beth may possibly be given a trial in place of Saunders next match, but a good fast bowler would be a boon to Australia just now.