TEST MATCH CHANGES

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 December 1936, Page 7

TEST MATCH CHANGES

AUSTRALIANS’ SECOND INNINGS FINGLETON-BRADMAN STAND tBY CABLE —PBESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.] SYDNEY, December 21. After a first-innings debacle ~0n....a. soft wicket, the Australians are fighting hard in their second innings in the test match with England. With Bradman mill in, Australia, has every prospect of saving an innings defeat in the second innings. This, of course, depends on the weather being favourable. Should further rain come —and it is threatening—the Australians’ task will be hopeless. The attendance to-day was 24,894. England declared the innings closed at the overnight total of 426 for six wickets. The wicket was wet on top, but not sticky when Fingleton and O’Brien opened Australia’s innings. Voce had charge of the attack and Fingleton took a single from the third ball, but the seventh ball was snicked by O’Brjen to the third of the five slip fieldsmen. Bradman came in and turned the next ball to short squareleg for a simple catch. Fingleton then played a maiden front Allen, and Voce, with the second ball of his second over had McCabe caught in the slips. Voce, taking three wfekets in four balls, had missed the hat trick by one ball. His figures were now three wickets for one run. He was making the ball rise sharply and the batsmen were sorely troubled. Chipperfield decided on aggression and slammed two fours past the bowler. He then dropped in the slips off Voce, but had not added to his total when he hit Allen hard to Sims at point and was out. Fingleton was the next to go. He had been very watchful for 55 minutes, before edging one to Verity at backward point. The total was now five for 2S, and Voce had four for eight. Sievers and Oldfield joined the pathetic procession and. Australia had lost seven for 31. e A partnership of 49 runs was then played by O’Reilly and McCormick. O’Reilly was missed off Voce before he had scored, and he celebrated his escape by vigorous hitting, pulling Vciity once and Sims twice over the fence for sixes. This pair defied six bowlers until lunch, but soon after Allen bowled McCormick and Ward with successive balls, and Australia’s rout was complete after 107 minutes at the wickets. Badcock was still too ill to play.

BRADMAN'S NEW RECORD. The wicket was not really bad, but the Australians were worried by the pace of the pitch. Voce and Allen both made the ball rise awkwardly, but the batsmen lacked enterprise. Following on, Australia, began the second 2.50,. with; a deficit of 346 runs', The ‘ wicliet was slowly improving, but still had life, and O’Brien and Fingleton began very cautiously. Hammond had Fingleton tied up and was unlucjcy not to secure his wicket, as an easy chance to Fagg at second slip was not accepted. In Hammond’s next over, however, O’Brien spooned one to Allen at silly leg. Bradman, after his two successive test ducks, just kept the first ball he received out of his wicket. He continued scratchily until tea. The batsmen spent the time during the overs in patting the wicket, but after tea the bowlers did not appear to get as much assistance from it. Bradman at 24 gave a hard chance to Robins at square-leg off Allen. The next ball was glanced to the fence, and Bradman became the highest Australian scorer in tests, beating Clem Hill’s aggregate of 26(10 runs. Whereas Hill had 76 innings, this is only Bradman’s thirty-fourth. A four by Bradman took the total to 100 after 125 minutes. Fingleton’s escape at nine proved costly to England, as he was batting very solidly. His 50 was made in 137 minutes. Twice Verity nearly bowled Bradman, and otherwise the Australian captain was not playing in his usual clean, confident fashion. It was a brilliant on-drive to the fence, however, which took him to 50 after 111 minutes. An appeal against the light at 5.45 was upheld, but the sun came through the clouds and the game continued at 5.55, Bradman and Fingleton defending until stumps. Scores: —

ENGLAND—First Innings. Fagg. c Sievers, b McCormick 11 Barnett, l> Ward Hammond, not out 221 Leyland, lbw., (new rule), b McCabe 42 Ames, c Robinson, b Ward .. 29 Allen, lbw, b O’Reilly •• •• 9 Hardstaff, b McCormick .. .. 26 Verity, not out .. .. .. .. 0 Extras 21 Total for six wickets (dec.) 426 Fall of wickets: One for 27, two for 118, three for 217, four for 351, five for 366, six for 421. BOWLING. O. M. R. W. McCormick .. 20 1 79 2 Sievers .. .. 16 4 30 0 Ward .... 42 8 132 2 O’Reilly .... 41 17 86 1 Chipperfield . . 13 2 47 0 McCabe .. .. 9 1 ?»1- 1 AUSTRALIA—First Innings. Fingleton, c Verity, b Voce .. 12 O’Brien, c Sims, b Voce . . .. 0 Bradman, c Allen, b Voce 0 McCabe, c Sims, b Voce .. .. 0 Chipperfield, c Sims, b Allen .. 13 Sievers, c Voce, b Verity .. .. 4 Oldfield, b Verity 1 O’Reilly, not out ' .. 37 McCormick, b Allen .. ..' .. 10 Ward, b Allen .. 0 Badcock (absent, ill) 0 Extras 3 Total' 80 Fall of wickets: One for 1, two for 1, three for 1, four for 16, five for 28, six for 30, seven for 31, eight for SO, nine for 80.

BOWLING.

AUSTRALIA —Second Innings. O’Brien, c Allen, b Hammond .. 17 Fingleton, not' put .. .. .. 67 Bradman, not out 57 Extras 4 Total for one wicket .. .. 145 • -Fall of-wieket-r-One for 3S.- - BOWLING.

AUSTRALIA UNLUCKY. SHOULD HAVE DONE BETTER. (By J. B. Hobbs, Copyright in all countries.- Reproduction in whole or in part forbidden.) (Received December 22, 11.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, December 22. England was in an ungenerous mood to-day, and started off by presenting Australia, with three ducks, instead of turkeys for Christmas. It was Brisbane all over again, only the weather came to unbalance Australia in their first, instead'of their second innings, so that soon after lunch they were following on, wanting 346 to avert an innings defeat. 1 can commiserate with Australia. Just as England had cruel luck with injuries in the first weeks of the tour, so the epidemic has now overtaken' Australia. It was bad luck enough to lose the toss a second time without rain coming when England had compiled a big total. On top of that they lost Badcock through sickness, while McCormick is barely fit. Australia got out for eighty. Allen, taking Verity and Robins on the wicket with him, decided on an immediate declaration. Voce’s feat proved him right at the outset, for the left-hander only just missed the hat-trick, taking wickets with his seventh, eighth and tenth balls. The partnership of the left-handers, O’Reilly and McCormick, was the best of the innings, adding forty-nine in thirty-five minutes. O'Reilly relieved the pent-up feelings of the crowd by hitting three sixes. I am sure Allen was not sorry when McCormick stayed till lunchtime, as he did not want to have to make an immediate, decision whether to bat again or make Australia follow on. During the interval, he came to the conclusion that with rain about, and Australia having their tails down, as the result, of the morning's disasters, it was best to send them in again.

While I appreciate Australia’s difficulties in batting on a wet wicket, I must say and emphatically at that, there was nothing sufficiently wrong with the wicket to warrant such a poor display. Test batsmen should be able to overcome the slight difficulties that ■ presented themselves yesterday morning. Voce made the ball swing on to the batsmen at the last moment, but nobody could make it turn anything like Ward did. I know it is different playing in. the Press box, but I still play in the middle, and have not been out of first-class cricket long enough to be incapable of putting myself in the batsman’s position, and the only explanation I can offer is that the Australians, besides being unaccustomed to wet wickets, are so used to playing to the pitch of the ball that they do not watch it the way we Englishmen do from off the pitch to the bat. Consequently, when it does not come off the pitch as fast as through the air, they make a jerky backstroke, instead of offering a dead bat to it. We soon saw that the wicket had rolled out very well for Australia’s second venture, and after a few overs, it could be described as of nice easy pace. Australia got away to a better start, and there was a change of bowling before the first wicket, fell, for the first time in this Test series. Hammond bowled with plenty of fire, making the ball lift slightly, and it was he who got O'Brien caught. This was another case of where a dead hat was needed. O'Brien had been missed at second slip by Fagg. off the same bowler, when six, and Fagg was lucky to get out of it so. cheaply. Sims gave fifteen runs away in one over, and gracefully retired. Bradman did not appear able to time the ball very well, but it was a different Bradman we saw this afternoon. He realised that it was up to him to get a big score, if Australia were to be saved, and there were no fireworks. Don was loudly cheered when he secured a single, and AVOIDED THE DREADED PAIR. When 24, he gave a terrifically hard chance off Allen to short leg. Robins tried pluckily to hold it with his bad hand. It was almost unfair to call it a chance at all. When 34, he edged eno between Hammond and Ames, off Verity, a very near thing. Fingleton, except for making some unaccountable slashes at balls wide of his off stump, played very soundly indeed.

The question we are now asking ourselves is: Did Allen make a mistake in requiring Australia, to follow on? As the wicket turned out, J am inclined to think that he did. Australia has a long way to go, I know, but by enforcing the follow-on, I think we presented them with the only possible chance of saving the game. A couple of centuries from their batsmen, and they could get a hundred or so lead, alid then rain might come to assist them. It is easy to be wise after the event, and Allen* was not to know that the wicket would roll out so well. England still has a. good lead, and for all we know, it might rain again to-night. That would be too bad for Australia. Australia was in sad disgrace yesterday morning, and it was their business to make a big fight, which their batsmen are now doing. MACARTNEY'S SUMMING UP. (Reed. December 22, 8 .a.m) SYDNEY, December 21. Macartney comments: Australia was dealt two unkindly blows to-day. One was the early morning rain, and the other the inability of' Badcock to play. ■ Allen made a good decision in closing England’s innings, but I am con-

Ivinced he was deceived by the state of the wicket, as at no time was it as bad as the Australians’ first innings denoted. I am certain that had he known the pitch would.-, roll out so well in the afternoon, lie would not have made Australia follow on. Also, he seemed to think the’pitch would be worse after lunch. His bowling changes all pointed thereto. Bradman made a bad error in appealing against the,light with 15 minutes to go, when, rubs were coming freely. The light was not nearly so bad as at Brisbane, when the umpires, at the same stage, ordered the game to continue.

Nevertheless, Australia is making a •commendable fight,-with"the situation still very largely in favour of England, for if ■ rain falls before play tomorrow, victory for them is assured. Australia must secure at least 500 runs to have any chance of victory. This is a long stern chase.. The condition of the wicket to-day at the start, of play gave the English bowlers a moral advantage. The steady length of Allen, Voce and Verity was greatly aided by the early batsmen playing fast, wicket strokes on a slow pitch. No bowlers could obtain any reasonable turn on the ball, and what there-was the slow wicket rendered negative. O’Brien. Bradman, and McCabe played puerile strokes, where a dead bat approached would have overcome the difficulty. The contrast was noticeable later when O’Reilly and McCormick were gathering runs in the easiest manner. O’Reilly brought tremendous relief after the earlier disappointments. Most of the time he played with comparative ease and confidence. Fingleton too showed there was was no-real devil in the wicket. Still, one must admire the accuracy ♦ of Voce, who thoroughly deserved his success. His control and slight variations of pace brought the downfall of batsmen who had not concentrated sufficiently on the conditions. Australia’s inglorious display should add another nail to the coffin of covered wickets. Australia perhaps deserves some touches of fortune. Bradman is still at the wickets, and while that is so, anything can happen. The Englishmen certainly cannot afford ta give him too many lives. “OCCASION FOR TEARS.” SYDNEY, December 21. Neville Cardug, in the “Sun,” says: “Not one of 1 the disasters to Australia in the first innings to-day could be related to the state of the wicket —drily* to the state of minds of the batsmen. Bradman’s strike was not fit for public view. This morning’s exhibition was an occasion for tears and the veil.'' W. M. Woodfull, writing in the “Sun,” says:, “Voce’s beautiful action and perfect control wrought the havoc in to-day’s test. - -Once again he proved top hostile for our leading batsmen —Voce plus the thought of a rain-dam-aged wicket, which only occasionally proved awkward. Bradman and McCabe made poor shots at balls which should have been ignored. For nearlv an hour Fingleton was on the defence gamely and without a fault and then selected the wrong ball to trv to force to tho front of the wicket.”

ENGLAND AMAZED.. (Received December 22, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, December 21. It is indeed a 'merry Christmas for Englishmen who, after the first month’s despondency, now have their cricket tails definitely up. Evening papers’ posters use one phrase, “Australia’s amazing collapse.”.. The Australians’ rout is the topic of conversation everywhere. Englishmen are unable to understand why they were so helpless on a wot wicket. TO-DAY’S PLAY The score at 1 p.m. (Sydney time), according to a Sydney wireless message, was 186 for three wickets (Bradman out 82, Fingleton out 73, McCabe not out 9). SHEFFIELD SHIELD MATCHES MELBOURNE, December. 21. In the Sheffield Shield match with Victoria, Queensland in the second innings made 175 (Allen 101). Fleet-wood-Smith took eight for 79. Victoria won by an innings and 85 runs, i At Adelaide, South Australia in the second innings scored 301 (Waite 77, Walker 37). Mudge took six for 97 and Hynes two for 63. New South Wales in the second innings has lost five wickets for 108 (McGilvray 34, Jackson 39). C. P. MEAD RETIRED LONDON, December 20. Hampshire is not re-engaging C. P. Mead (the veteran batsman), who,.in recognition of his services, will be paid until September and given a public subscription. OTAGO SHIELD TEAM DUNEDIN, December 21. T. Chettleburgh is not available to play for Otago in the Plunket Shield match against Wellington, and Scandrett, of Southland will take his place. Constable is now twelfth man.

VOCG 0. . .. s M. 1 R. 10 W 4 Allen . . !) 1 19 Verity .. . o 0 17 2 Hammond . .. 4 0 6 0 Sims o 0 20 0 Robins . .. 1 0 5 0

0. M. R. W. Voce . .. 7 2 15 0 Allen , .. 11 2 34 0 Hammond . .. 1 1 10 1 Sims :. 5 0 35 0 Verity .. . . .. 12 3 38 0 Robins . . . 1 0 9 0