The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1938. Australia's Ashes

Northern Advocate, 26 July 1938, Page 4

The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST”

TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1938. Australia's Ashes

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper

THE fourth cricket test has resulted in a win for Australia by five wickets. This test has recovered some of the drama and uncertainty of test cricket, and the result copies as a tonic after the negative endings in the first two, when brilliant baiting-and fluctuating fortunes were squandered on matches practically foredoomed by line weather and innocuous wickets, to end tamely in a draw. Up to this fourth test, the general feeling left by the early matches of the present series was one of acute dissatisfaction with the four-day time limit, and this sentiment was felt in England as well as in Australia. Had the -first two tests been played to a finish, England might have won either of them. Certainly the sterling batting of the English eleven in the first innings at Trent Bridge gave England a certain claim to such honours as that first test yielded, even though, from the point of individual achievement, there was nothing in the match to surpass McCabe's glorious double century, surely one of the greatest efforts ever known in test cricket, an innings marked not only by superb lighting spirit but by a poise and gracefulness which set this batsman apart as a cavalier of the game. After Trent Bridge and Lord’s came the deluge at Old Trafford, where not a ball was bowled. ’ It seemed certain, then, that no decision would be reached until the two teams met at the Oval in the fifth test, played to a finish. Yet the unexpected has happened. The wicket at Leeds, usually a batsman’s wicket, played tricks from the start, and, instead of a draw in four days, the match ended in Australia’s favour in three. The result is bad luck for an English eleven which undoubtedly embraces the most promising young batsmen gathered together in England for many years. It is impossible now for England to regain the Ashes, and impossible for Australia to lose them. England may, at the Oval, prove superior to Australia in a batsmen’s endurance test, though there is always Bradman to be reckoned with. But, in any case, a victory for England at the Oval would now have no more than a sentimental value. If we sympathise with England, we must at the same time recognise that the result seems to prove Australia the better -side. Except for Bradman, its batting is possibly no stronger, man for man. But allied to the characteristic fighting spirit of an Australian eleven it posseses that prince of spin bowlers, W. J. O’Reilly, and his able colleague, L. O’B. Fleetwood-Smith. The way in which these two men, on the third day, exploited every peculiarity of the wicket, made the occasion historic, and those in Now Zealand who stayed up last night to listen between 10 p.m. and midnight, had two hours that were filled with excitement. After the first test, it may be remembered, English critics were saying that Australia ‘‘had no bowlers.” It seemed that the guile of Grimmett was lacking from the attack. But that Trent Bridge wicket Avas lifeless until the last day. At Leeds it was another story, and so the Australian bowlers were aide to decide the fate of the Ashes. Perhaps it is even more important, however, that so far the present test series has been played in a spirit of good fellowship, and has been unproductive of “incidents.” Even the sensation-mongers of Fleet Street, except for the peevish complaint against the Australian batting on the fourth day of the first test, have been unable to concoct any stories likely to disturb the harmony of the tour. It will be a grand thing for cricket if this spirit continues to prevail. Mon* important than the custody of the Ashes is the preservation of the dignity of the game.