AFTER THE BATTLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19412, 21 August 1926, Page 11

AFTER THE BATTLE.

final cricket test. LESSONS OF THE MATCH. TRIBUTES TO AUSTRALIANS. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. s (Received 7.30 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. Aug. 19. The' features- of the play in ; the final cricket test match between England ".and Australia are discussed in the newspapers. The South- African cricketer, .Mr. G- A. Faulkner, says: —"The tests have taught stern lessons, the most obvious being that Hobbs and Sutcliffe stand alone. There are uo batsmen of similar calibre in England to follow them.

"In spite of England's victory tho Australians are stronger,; batsmen. Another moral is the need of spin bowlers like Rhodes; who proved that such bowling is the greatest asset. Larwood has a-big future, although his physique will prevent his rising to J the heights of Gregory and McDonald. The matches proved that' England must cultivate all-round cricketers, especially bowler-batsmen, arid the perfect returning of the ball to the wickets as the Australians do." A newspaper suggests that new ashes should be formed by the bats of Hobbs and Sutcliffe and'the ball used in the' fourth innings of the final test," but the bats are - covered' with: autographs land the owners would be reluctant to sacrifice them.. i The Famous Partnership. " Australia lost the final test match on Tuesday morning when they, failed; to break tho first wicket partnership on a bad wicket," said J. B. Hobbs, in an interview. . "Richardson's bowling was excellent but negative. H© seemed not .to be trying for the wicket, but rather, waiting for the batsmen to get out themselves. It would probably have been a diff® rer >t story if Macartney had gone on and bowled round the wicket, for which the conditions were ideal.

" During the whole of "Saturday and Monday* the \Vicket was an-ideal one—■the most beautiful I have seen. It was bad, only on Tuesday morning,. It improved later, but it was . bad again-on Wednesday after rain. However, even at the beginning of the Australians' second innings the wicket was not as bad as when Sutcliffe and' myself were biatting. "'An. astounding feature, of-the game was the small scores in the first innings. Australia did wonderfully to get England out for 280. I expected we would get .400, but. I have never seen Mailey playing better. It was great captaincy on • the part of Collins to keep, on his ..funny bowlers. ... " England was lucky to get out four men by Saturday night, but' it'" was not then that the raatch : was lost.' Collins, Gregory; - Oldfield - and Grimmett restored Australia's fortunes by means of a typical Australian effort. .Longer Ttots Favoured. " When i Grimmett bowled the first over to me on Tuesday my spirits sank to. zero. I managed .to stick, there, but. it 'is incorrect to say I was "bluffing Collins in order to induce' him : td 1 keep on Richiftdsbn. ""! /" I thought Wednesday's rain .'was'the deciding factor, >because /we - had bowlers for such conditions, which enabled us to get Woodfull, Macartney and Collins out, after which the Australians did not fight as they ought to have done. They seemed to give up. Had Collins stayed an hour longer on an improving wicket it would have been a different story. ."I .was, agreeably surprised at the reception 1 the public gave the played out tefet; I "never felt suth, electric excitement oyer a. test in England before. It made an immense difference to the players, who felt it was inspiring them to the highest efforts.. It was' impossible to feel fatigued. " I hope it means three-played out tests in future tours to England," concluded Hobbs. "If we retain our present form in 4928.we. would not refuse to go to Australia if asked, but the • prospect of more of those grim fights'makes ope think'.." I'. ' v ; SOMERSET MATCH. LOCAL TEAM SELECTED. Reuter. LONDON. Aug. 19. The Somerset team to meet Australia is as follows :—Daniell, White, . MacBryan, Lyon, Earle, Robertson, Glasgow, Bridges, Lpngrigg, Young,' Hunt.'