BRADMAN’S MATCH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26328, 6 December 1946, Page 7

BRADMAN’S MATCH

(Special to Daily Times) By E. O. Blamires BRISBANE, Dec. 2. Queensland turned on ideal cricketing weather for the opening days of the first Test match. The Woolloongabba ground was at its best, and a pitch had been prepared that made the winning of the toss in settled weather a distinct advantage. * Bradman was fortunate in the spin of the coin, and good fortune glued itself to him throughout the first two days. We talk in New Zealand of the winning of the toss being worth 100 runs. Inflation mdst affect cricket and a moderate estimate in this case would be nearer 200. Add his score of 187, and it is a pretty good contribution for one man to make to Australia’s chances of victory. So far it is Bradman’s match. Popular Figure Bradman got a reception from a large crowd fit for a king or some national hero. There is no doubt of his popularity. The Englishmen wanted to get at him before the new bali had lost }ts polish and they got. their chance. Morris, opening batsman with Barnes, flicked a ball from Bedser into Hammond’s hands when he was only 2, and Bradman came in with 9 on the scoreboard. It was my first sight of Bradman on the cricket field. I arrived from Sydney by the same express, but now I was to see the inimitable Don in flannels and wielding the willow. Be,dser sent him down a few balls that had him guessing. The second received was snicked dangerously into the slips, then there was the interlude of, a no-ball, and the following ball was poked uppishly to short leg for Ikin to take on the first hop. Had Ikin been a yard nearer, the Australian score would have been two for 10. Could this be Bradman? Bedser was definitely puzzling? Playing Himself In By lunch-time Bradman had got launched. Though nearly sunk more than once he was still afloat. That is all that can be claimed for him at the beginning. After lunch 'he was more like the Bradman of expectation. Certainly he had one or two close shaves during the afternoon, but increasingly he mastered the bowling, and gave many glimpses of that prowess with the bat that has been unparalleled. There is no doubt of his genius. It halted here and- there, it was not as

sure of itself as in pre-war days, but as an experienced technician, once the machinery had got properly oiled he. wielded the bat to send the ball in a flash to the boundary, or to meet every effort or wile of the bowler automatically with the correct stance and His good fortune took him by the arm and steered him to the century with a snick to second slip that a more agile fieldsman than Voce would have captured. Instead it streaked through to the boundary. He laid about him then with a will, and on the second day gave an exhilarating exhibition of skill in strokes and timing until the end of his innings in 316 minutes. A change in bowling had brought Ednch on He first bowled a wide —then he bowled Bradman! I had just made the remark to Neville Cardus, “It is an easy thing for a bowler who is stiff from the orevious day to send down a wide first ball,” when there was a shout, and I looked to see Bradman, clean bowled, retiring from the crease. It was not a perfect innings, but half a dozen “iffy” strokes in a score of 187 do not rob the master batsman of the great merit of putting Australia on top after a poor start, g Hassett’s Confidence Lindsey Hassett’s innings was the opposite of Bradman’s, in that it started with complete confidence and finished lamely. On the first day he played a great knock, restrained, but sure. In his uncompleted innings of 82 he was a perfect foil for Bradman. His tempo was slower, but the ease and polish of

First Test at Brisbane

his strokes as we saw them in New Zealand were much in evidence, and he never faltered. , Next day he was different. His feet seemed to have gone to sleep, and the barrackers. too, were on pins and needles. He pottered about, struggled to his century, gave two chances which were dropped, and finally played a weak shot into Yardley’s hands at midon. His 128 will be remembered, however, for its effect in stemming the early English attack and assisting Bradman in a record, third wicket stand of 276 for Australia in Austra-lian-English tests. Miller Pleases Crowd Miller gave the best display of batting till he reached the sixties. Nothing more delightful in' cricket artistry could be imagined, and the force of his strokes might have made the groundsmen say, “ There is no need to break the pickets.” Miller pulled the s trigger, and hit the bull’s-eye again &nd again. A mammoth sixer cleared the picket fence, went over the heads of the crowd fully 20 yards to thud on the roof of the members’ pavilion. An Australian crowd greets such a hit with shrieks of delight and long applause. Miller, however, is not as happy - with flighted slows as with fast bowling. One recalls how the first ball he received in New Zealand, one from the slow bowler, C. C. 'Burke, had him tied up. And Wright, who was bowling better on the second day than on the first, had him puzzled. After one or two unsuccessful appeals, the bowler’s straight overspin found Miller in front, and the telegraph said “Stop” after Miller's name. He notched 79. McCool Appreciates Second Chance Colin McCool is one of Queens-. land’s idols. He went for the tired bowling. He should have been caught behind when only one, but ’keeper Gibbs was standing too far back to all the faster bowling, and had to dive forward for what should have been a simple catch. “Thank you,” said McCool in effect, and showed his , appreciation by hitting up 93 in a little over two hours, and 14 boundary strokes were included. Bradman managed to find the boundary only once more than McCool, though his score was double. Bowling Flayed Johnson had similar conditions and helped to flay the bowlers as they tired at the end of the day. He and McCool had the crowd gasping and yelling—for an Australian crowd is fully vocal—as they ran smart singles. Fresh as daisies themselves, they took it out of Ikin, Washbrook, Compton and Edrich, who had sprinted in the hot sun for two days. All credit to these English fieldsmen that they never let up, and forced Johnson and McCool to be wary in their daring. Record Test Score The third day’s play produced few runs. It was a disappointment when McCool failed by 5 to reach the century, but he repeated the mistake made earlier by Miller and Johnson and retired l.b.w. to Wright’s topspinner. Talion also put his leg in front of a ball from Edrich. Lindwall gave a breezy display, hitting two sixers and three fours in a score of 31. With his dismissal-by a catch in the longfleld the record score in Test' cricket in Australia came to an end, 645 runs scored in 659 minutes.