A REMARKABLE TEST.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 228, 25 August 1938, Page 10

A REMARKABLE TEST.

The final Test match between Australia and England at tke Oval must rank among tke most memorable and remarkable of tke lengthy series between tke'two countries. In a time when records in various branches of sport are being frequently broken cricket kas proved no exception, and achievements in this and other Tests this season have set new figures for b’atsmen to try _to surpass. Foremost among tkein is Hutton’s world record of 364 runs for a single innings in firstclass cricket. It was a prodigious and brilliant feat, and even though he took twice the time that Bradman did at Leeds in 1934 to make 334 runs it loses nothing of its exceptional greatness on that score. For Bradman is the world’s master batsman, a man capable of punishing bowling that other cleve.r batsmen have often found difficulty in scoring from. Above all he is an Australian and Hutton a Yorkshireman, two vastly different in temperament and in methods of play. For Hutton there can be only the greatest commendation for his fine achievement and Bradman happily was there to be the first to offer it. England’s gargantuan score, which must have reached 1000 runs had Hardstaff attacked the bowling as he could have done —instead he played safely to further consolidate England’s position—alone would have set the Australians a tremendous and most likely an impossible task; but first the inability of McCormick to take the field deprived tke team of its fast bowler, then an injury to Fingleton, and finally Bradman’s unfortunate mishap gave them only nine batsmen for each innings. It was a tragic Test for the holders of the Ashes, and to add to their difficulties they found Bowes at his best. It was veritably a Yorkshire triumph, which will be remembered for many years. The series has ended with the honours even, and the Englishmen must be congratulated on their well deserved success, however much more preferable it would have been to their supporters to have seen the Australians at full strength, fighting back magnificently, as they have done on former occasions, to make some impression on their opponents’ wonderful score.