ENGLAND DEFEATED

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 8 January 1925, Page 7

ENGLAND DEFEATED

EXTRA EDITION.

BEATEN BY 81 BUNS. SECOND TEST ENDED. (By Telegraph—Special to Star.) WELLINGTON, Jan. 8 England’s score totalled 290 Sutcliffe 127 Douglas 14 Gilligan 0 Tate ... 0 Chapman, not out 4 Australia won by 81 runs. SUTCLIFFE'S DAY.

HERO OF THE BATTING

ENGLAND OVER-CAUTIOUS

COMMENT ON THE TEST

7 BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT. (Received Jan. 8, 10.50 a.in.) SYDNEY, Jan. 8. The Herald, commenting on tin* cricket, states: “To make 317 .for nine wickets in the fourth innings of a test match on a worn wicket on the sixth day of play was a tremendous undertaking, and required for its ‘accomplishment one or more extraordinary individual performances, with batting of general consistence l ight down -the batting order. The hitherto uneven character of the English batting did not warrant indulgence in any satlguine expectations that it would succeed on this occasion; but it did succeed almost beyond expectations at the close of the day’s play. England still have a hard light to win. If anything the . advantage is again on the bowling side.” It seemed to the critic that England lost a golden opportuntiy, if not actually of winning the match yesterday, of making victory practically assured for to-day. Runs were there to be had, hut the batsmen, after once getting on top of the bowling during the early part of the Woolley-Sutcliffe partnership, failed to drive home the advantage by temporising and lapsing into ultra-cautious methods. The slow play at this stage and the cautious methods directing it were entirely overdone. It was playing into the hands of the Australian side. It made the bowlers bowl better and gave back’ their lost initiative to the fielding side. The longer the getting of those runs was delayed the greater was the chance of intricacies in the wicket taking a hand. Sutcliffe was the batting hero of the day. Indeed, he may be regarded as the batting hero of the whole remarkable match. He will have good cause to remember his first test match on the Melbourne ground. His performance yesterday entities him. to take rank as the only English player to perform .the feat, which he shares with Bardslev, of making two separate hundreds in a test match. He has been at the wickets wielding a broad and certain blade for the better part of four days, and was on the field the whole of the two previous days, so, except for a matter of an hour and a half, he has actually been on the field during the whole six days of the match. There is still one conquest for him to make on this occasion—the completion of victory for his side, which his play has rendered a possibility, if not a probability.

PLUNKET SHIELD MATCH. (by TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATIONAUCKLAND, Jan. 8. The Cricket Association has agreed to a suggestion that the Plunket Shield match Auckland v. Wellington be played here on January 23. 24 and 26. A reply, will be sent to the Taranaki Association that a team cannot be sent to New Plymouth to play on January 9 and 10, and asking if Easter dates are acceptable.