TEST CRICKET.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 29 June 1926, Page 9

TEST CRICKET.

BRILLIANT DISPLAY" BY HOBBS. OLDFIELD’S GOOD WORK. SAFE FIELDING SAVES HEAVY SCORE. GY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. Received 1.5 p.m. to-day. LONDON, June 28. The attendance at the test match was 33,000. Gregory and Alacartney opened! the attack to Hobbs and Sutcliffe. Hobbs openetd his score by cutting a full toss from Gregory for three, Sutcliffe following suit in the .same over. Andrews was early prominent in the field, smartly preventing boundaries and .returning the bail excellently. The batsmen proceeded to hit brightly, Hobbs placing Gregory well in front of the wicket. When the score was 25 an exciting episode occurred. Sutcliffe blocked, one from Gregory and started for a stolen run at the call of Hobbs. Gregory, running alongside Hobbs, kicked the ball into the wicket, but. Hobbs got home. Gregory was bowling a good pace, but a. trifle erratic. Alail'ey, mixing the ball effectively, kept the' Englishmen on the defensive, and had Hobbs guessing, and later thrice narrowly escaped pulling Alailey on to the wicket. Richardson, kept a constant length, without being dangerous, but had the effect of converting the game into a comparatively lifeless display. , Good fielding all round contributed much to> keeping down the runs. Sutcliffe, just before luncheon, enlivened the .proceedings, driving and cutting Alailey to th© boundary nicely. On resumption, the Englishmen batted merrily at the expense of Gregory, of whom a succession of sharp run singles was easily obtainable, owing to the*"'deeply placed field. Hobbs had a narrow escape when 60. He was taking a quick single when. Afaeartney, at midoff, gent an a. smart return, missing by inches. Hobbs was not reality comfortable when facing Alailey, and was kept constantly guessing owing to the deceptive flight of the ball. Alacartney was bowling with rare judgment and was seldom get away through an unorthodox but well-placed field. Hobbs at length took a risk, lifting Alacartney over the pavilion rails, and followed this up with a characteristic boundary cut off Alailey. The latter bowler strongly tempted Sutcliffe to. hit, hut the ‘latter resolutely declined until the Australian overpitched the ball, which Sutcliffe oloutfed twice in 'succession to square-leg boundary. Runs came slowly. Richardson-s length kept the batsmen quiet. He bowled fifteen overs be fore lie was sent to the boundary as a result of an offdrive by Sutcliffe. Ryder bowled better than in the earlier games. The balls wer© faster and liad'more sting. Hobbs, as be approached the century carefully, left the scoring to Sutcliffe, who was equally cautious in selecting scoring balls. Hobbs was watched by the crowd in breathless suspense. He hung jin the nineties for nearly an hour, and stuck at ninetynine for nine overs. The crowd, taking up the cudgels on liehalf of Hobbs, urged Ryder to' bowl on the wicket. A diversion was caused by Richardson completely beating Sutcliffe, who was at the crease 195 minutes, and hit eleven fours. The partnership produced 18 runs. In the next over Hobbs obtained a single through the slips, bringing up his century, which took 3hrs 20mins. ■to compile.” . . Woolley .started early by on-drivmg Ryder to the boundary. Hobbs also showed more enterprise, but- the .scoring fell off before tea. This_ was in no way attributable, to the howling, which, although good, could have been treated more aggressively. Hobbs went out through a brilliant catch at deep* point. He had batted for 4hrs 7m'in. He was brilliant in the morning, but- quiescent in the afternoon, though his .strokes were clean and pretty to watch, but his placin" was faulty. His .score included ten fours. It is noteworthy that Hobbs ’has scored two consecutive centuries in tests at Lords, the last occasion being in 1912. With the advent of Hendren, play livened up. Both he and AVoolley lindulged in forceful driving. Oldfield was magnificent behind the wickets. It was not until -the to tail was 264 Lliat tlio first- was recorded. [ The fielding generally was of the •r order. There was only a couple of misfields by Andrews, who was usually the .safest man on the field. In the last half hour AVoolley and Hendren smcite the tired bowling unmercifully, and it. was only the good fielding that averted a heavy, score. —Reuter.

HOSE PIPE INCIDENT.

HEAD GROUNSMjAN'S STATEMENT

Received 1.40 p.m. to-day. LONDON, June 28. Mr. H. White, head groundsman at Lord’s, interviewed re the hose pipe incident, said: “Everything was all right at ten o’clock on Sunday evening. I had given instructions for the hose pipe. to. be made ready for me, as l intended, starting at five o’clock in the morning to prepare two other wickets on the lower side of the test pitch. That is the explanation why the hose, was ready for use. Whoever was responsible for such an unsportsmanlike aot must have gone thoroughly to. work for the place where the connection was made with the main was not easy to find. There is an iron Lid box-like chamber, and on the lid are placed two big pieces of turf, level with the ground. These have been removed, lid lifted and the hose connected. Even the wheel whereby .the water was turned on was hard to. move and required a knack to do it. I cannot think how it was managed. There were two. watchmen on duty all night, but they saw nothing. Fortunately the .water was not turned fully on. It was also fortunate, that I got up at four o’clock instead of an hour later, but for this the witch would have .almost certainly have been drenched by the extra, hour’s soaking.—Rleuter.