BRILLIANT RECOVERY

Evening Star, Issue 22514, 5 December 1936, Page 15

BRILLIANT RECOVERY

ENGLAND ATONES FOR WEAK START r LEYLAND'S FIGHTING CENTURY HAMMOND GOES FIRST.BALL BARNETT'S VALUABLE KNOCK Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright ■ [.By J. B. Hobbs.] (Copyright in' all countries. • Reproduction' ixi whole or in part forbidden.) , BRISBANE, December 4. England; 7 after, a shocking start in the first test, recovered well, thanks greatly to Leyland. ‘ , M'Cormick,, opening with the wind over his left' shoulder, started', sensationaly.. He sent down a shortish one that got up chest high, and Worthing-ton-tried to hook it.- The ball hit his glove or wrist, and rebounded off his chest for. an easy, catch by. the wicketkeeper. It was M'Cormick’s first, ball in-a test against England. 7 Fagg was practically opening batsman .after all. : Allen’s move to’ piit Worthington in first, failed ' 'completely, ‘ I should not have!' changed Fagg, as Worthington is imore used to, batting lower down. Sievers opened at the' pavilion (end, the wind slightly helping him’ to, swing away. • , BARNETT GETS GOING. It was over 20 minutes before Barnett scored, hut he had not had much of the bowling. In M'Cormick’s third oyer he made a nice cut between point and the gully to the boundary. A couple of- balls later he edged one, along the f round, wide of second slip for another . Bradman promptly topk one of his short-legs away and put in a third slip. Off the,very next ball Barnett executed a square cut to the same place ns the. first; which- hit the fence’. It is not often that a' batsman brings, out such ''brilliant-'strokes‘so’ early. Barnett cut one: from Sievers past cover for. a couple, to.give -him 15 Ina row, ,Fagg remaining at 4. The. first ball of M'Cdrmiek’s fourth over was outside the batsman’s logs. Fagg tried to glide it, ‘but was well caught, by Oldfield moving over wide on •the leg side. 'V thought M'Cormick was again fortunate, for the ball wasn’t worthy : o{. a wicket. r , HAMMOND DISMISSED. ■ Our "great Hammond, amid screams -and delirious ' cheers ;all round the f round, was, to our- dismay, out first' all., • It, wqs - a fasti; shortish ;one on tie just outside the leg, stump, and ;it reared up on his body.' Hammond half flinched, putting his bat up to protect himself,: and: lobbed the ball to fine short-leg. ■ • ; . Leyland prevented the hat trick.' ‘ y A snag in winning the toss at Brisbane is that the wicket may play lively the first day before lunch, as to-day. M'Cormick was able to make any ball of short length rear high. In the fifth over he hit Leyland on the shoulder. The spectators were excited and wanted still more wickets. Bradman did a bold thing, taking M'Cormick off when he had bowled five overs for 17 runs and three wickets, replacing him with O’Reilly. The temptation was to let him bowl himself right out. I should have given him another over as he was so full' Of vim, but probably Bradman rested him because he had a-pain in his back. This was evident when he did not • howl' immediately after lunch.- | - . USEFUL PARTNERSHIP. . Barnett was, beaten when r-;--’mig •forward-.towards' a ball, but , hit ope.- towards long-off for 'sir . the ’same 7 '.oyer; and the; next ball unshed 7 past . cover' for four. ' We’ wondered ;what Barnett, would be like in Australia, because, .we -.kngpr. -him to' be impetuous. In- common with others,: I erred in thinking him purely a hitter. Now I am full of a'dmiration for him. He has quietened down and become a battler without sacrificing brilliance. When his partnership with Leyland had produced 99, Barnett was caught at the wicket, on the leg side off O’Reilly, who had bowled 11 overs for 15, -■ SAVED THE DAY. • If Barnett and Leyland had failed I do not know where England would have been. Leyland was doggedness itself, like George Hirst. , Besides taking those two catches on the leg side, Oldfield kept wickets magnificently. England’s bad start was due to the aggressive bowling of M'Cormick, who took advantage of life in the wicket, but he did not bowl unduly short, though he always looked dangerous. The .weather was unsettled early but gradually improved, and was mildly sunny all afternoon. After tea Ames cut Ward’s first ball for four, but off the second was easily caught in the slips. He misjudged the length and played forward, instead of back. Leyland had just become top scorer with 71, when, in trying to force Ward away with a short-arm hook, ho should / have been caught easily by the bowler. Just after lunch he had also been missed off Ward at short leg. Tt was a difficult chance. . Hardstaff was properly on trial, and I was delighted to see him make the flight. He got off the mark at once, but was 35 minutes before scoring again. Leyland continued stolidly after lea, although he was always ready to drive anything overpitched. Ho completed his centnrv with a straight drive off M'Cabe, who, along with Sievers, had taken the new ball. Leyland has been amazingly consistent lately,, but I was never more struck by bis fighting qualifies than to-day, when he came in with three wickets down .for 20. It was a real tost, and this inmugs must -be put down among the most valuable he 'has ever played. Measured by the clock. it was slow' batting, but one couldn’t expect' anything clse'after the miserable start. Barnett and Leyland fortunately stopped the rot, and a desperate position, was somewhat retrieved. It was a poor score in view of the tail, but it might have been worse. One feature that pleases me to report is that they haven’t collapsed against slow bowling. Bradman was handicapped by the cn-

forced retirement of M'Cormick. The wicket toned down after lunch and played perfectly. O’Reilly was difficult to score off, but never looked deadly. Ward and Chipperfield were played easily. Scores;— ENGLAND. . First Innings. Worthington c Oldfield h M'Cormick t 0 Barnett c Oldfield b O’Reilly ... 69 Fagg o Oldfield, h M'Cormick ... 4 Hammond c Robinson b M'Cormick 0 Leyland b Ward ... ... 126 Ames c Chipperfield b Ward ... 24 Hardstaff not out ... 27 Robins not out 6 Extras ... 7 Total for six wickets ... 263 Fall of wickets: None, 20, 20, 119, 162, 252. Bowling Analysis. O. M. R. W.

O’REILLY'S ACCURACY SLOW BOWLERS NEVER DANGEROUS SYDNEY, December 5. (Received December 6, at noon.) Macartney says that O’Reilly gave a fine exhibition of accuracy but the slow howlers, Ward and Chipperfield, were far too short in length ever to be a groat danger. Any batting success could not be attributed to a mastery of the slow-bowling _ bogey, as those • bowlers seldom maintained a length that was menacing. _ Sievers at no rime gave promise of being effective. The fielding was not as keen as usual. Probably the-brightest spot in the day’s entertainment was Oldfield s wicket-keeping. He was more than equal to his usual test standard. SECONDARY INTEREST TEST TAKES BACK SEAT LONDON, December 4. (Received December 5, at noon.) The cricket has been relegated to a back seat, except for very early posters lionising Leyland. Carson, in the ‘Evening News, says: “Something a good deal bigger than 400 is needed to give us a Yhance,”

M'Cormick ... 8 1 26 8 Sievers ... 15 3 42 0 O’Reilly ... ... 26 7 57 1 Ward ... 26 1 97 2 Chipperfield M’Cab© ... ... 5 ... 2 0 0 24 10 0 0