BIG CRICKET

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11826, 6 January 1933, Page 5

BIG CRICKET

STATE OF THE WICKET

AR G U AfENT CONTINUES

vU.P.A. by Elec. Tol. Copyright) MELBOURNE, Jan. 5

The curator of the cricket ground, Mr. tLuttroll, stated that be did not agree that the wicket was the cause of the low scores in the second test; The wicket was as good as any lie had prepared. 'Humble, Noble and Armstrong say the was barely marked. TASMA XIAN TROUBLE. COMPLAINT ABOUT JA R DINE. WAS GROUND FIT FOR PLAY? (U.P.A. by Elec. Tel. Copyright) HOBART, nan. 5.

Following upon a request by the Board of Control for details of the covering of the wicket incident when England played Tasmania at Hobart, the chairman of the Tasmanian Cricket Association, Air. Mullen, officially forwarded the. information asked for. The communication sets out that Jnrdino informed Green, the Tasmanian acting captain, that if the umpires decided that the game should !>e proceeded with, he would decline to take his team on to the field. The manager and .Jar-lino also approached Afr. Mullen and suggested that he should intervene with regard to the umpires’ decision as to the fitness of the ground. PIONEERS OF CRICKET FIRST TEST PLAYED IN MELBOURNE The first- Test cricket match in Australia between England and Australia was played on the -Melbournewicket ground on Alarch 10, 16, and 17, 1877. Although the match attracted considers pic attention it was not even glorified by the title of England v. Australia, hut was described as ‘•the combination match” for the Australian team was composed of five players from New South Wales and six from Victoria. There is no survivor of the English team and but. one Australian is still alive, T, AY. Garrett, of Sydney.

The English team which played m that historic- match .was the fourth which had visited Australia. 11. H. Stephenson led the pioneer side :n 1 SGI-62. Two years later George Parr, ■a famous English professional, brought ihe second team, which included Dr. E. Al. Grace, a brother of the famous 4 ‘W.G.’’ The first team was defeated twice, hut jn all its matches it played against odds. One defeat was at the hands of 22 players, of New South Wales and Auetoria, the other by 22 players of Castlemaine. The second team, which in every match was confronted by 22 opponents, was undefeated. Tv o of the fir.-t team, William Caffyn and Charles Lawrence, remained in Australia and acted as coaches, and when A\ . G. Grace came there in 1873 the standard of play had improved vastly.

Grace ir% the undisputed champion, and a bet- was made that no one in Australia would be able to bowl him. However, in the first match, against IS Victorian players, which was won by Victoria by an innings and 21 runs H. F. Boyle, a lad from Bendigo, clean bowled the champion. That performance placed Australia on the map as a. cricketing country. Vhat an influence Grace liad on cricket may be gauged by the fact that no continued playing Te’st cricket until 1899, by which time he had attained hi- olst birthday. At the time of Grace’s visit Australia had already produced such famous players as John McCarthy Blackham, F. R. Spofforth C‘the demon howler’ j, E. Evans, and W . L. Murdoch, a rival in fame as a batsman of W. G. Grace, but when Lillywhite brought the fourth English team to Australia in IS7G its matches were still played against- odds, though the numbers had been reduced to 15, instead of 22. New South Wales challenged the visitors to an eleven-a-side game, which was played in Sydney on January 10 and E, lSi <. The match was drawn, only time saving the Svdncv men from losing by an innings

The English team then visited New Zealand and on its tvay back, alter a very rough voyage across the Tasman Sen, it met a combined eleven of New South Wales and Victoria on March 15, 16, and 17, 1877, cn the Melbourne ground. The Australian team was not the strongest that- could be placed in the field, for F. E. Allen, •■th e bowler of a century”, could not be induced to leave Warrnambool to play, and three famous Sydney players' W. L. Murdoch, later to bo re-o-arded as the champion batsman of Australia, E. Evans, and F. R. Spofforth, were absent. Murdoch and Evans could not make' the trip from Sydney, and Spofforth refused to play because Murdoch; then a wicKetkeeper, was not playing and Spofforth had no confidence in Blackhant, who soon became to be regarded as The “prince of wicketkeepers.” Spofforth was one of lii 5 greatest admirers. Nowadays, when players receive £3O a match and expenses for taking part in a Test match it is strange to read in ‘’The Argus” of March 15, 1577, that although leave of absence had been obtained for him from the Lauds Department, F. E. Allan would not leave Warrnambool on the ground “that the present- is the carnival week of the district, and ho expects to meet, many friends in. the town whom ho may have no other chance io see.” ‘‘The Argus” criticised Allen severely for refusing to play. David Gregory, tho first of the greatest cricketing family Australia has produced, was the Australian captain. Batting first his side made 245 Of this score Charles Bannerman, who was missed when ho had scored 10, made 165. Ho retired hurt, a fast ball by George Ulyctt, the Yorkshire fast bowler, smashing his hand. Veterans who saw the match declare that Bannermann’s innings w» s tho best ever played in a Test match. His influence on the game may ho realised when it is not-

(Contiuued at foot of next column)

Continued from previous column) ■ ed that the next highest score was 19 not out by T. W. Garrett, followed by 17 by J. McC. Blackham, 15 by B. B. Cooper, and 12 by T. • Hogan. England replied with 196, 11.. Jupp being top scorer with 63. In the Australian second innings the - score was 104, T. Horan beading "the list with 20. The Englishmen were all out at their second attempt for 108, and Australia won by 45 runs. - Jtist: as there was a hatting hero for Au'Stni* lia, so there, was a mighty bowler, TY Kendall, a left-hander, a, compositor of “Tho Argus”, , who took ; eight wickets for 109 Tuns.. : \ ' ‘ ‘ 'A■•>>/:*r -