EXCITING TEST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26354, 8 January 1947, Page 6

EXCITING TEST

FIRST DAYS AT MELBOURNE HUGE CROWDS THRILLED * (Special to Daily Times) By E. O. Blamires MELBOURNE, Jan. 3. The first three days of the third test match, with its ups and downs and its ins and outs, have proved intensely exciting. The Englishmen have shown a great fighting spirit. They have turned on some dogged batting, albeit they have been dogged by misfortune. The Australians have been slightly superior in bowling, but the honours have been quite as much wtih the Englishmen when everything i§ taken into consideraion. Early Excitement There was a breathless hush among well over 50,000 people when Voce opened to Barnes and the first run of the game was scored by him to fine leg. A thrill came in the second over. Morris, who had failed in the first two tests, was opening batsman with, Barnes. After a short single which had the crowd gasping, the first ball from Bedser to Morris was snicked on the leg side for a difficult chance behind. Evans made a gallant attempt. Success would have been a fine feather in his cap. As it happened Morris was the child of fortune, and continued on his way. The way was not lengthy, however, for with 32 up he was out lbw to Bedser for 21. / Bradman’s advent brought prolonged applause, in part an acknowledgment of his superb innings in the previous match. The two whose stand of 405 for the fifth wicket was fresh in mind were together again. Bradman’s first ball, bowled by Voce, found the pickets at fine leg and a single came from the next. Bedser bowled from the other end and two 2’s and a 3 came from the over. In three minutes Bradman had caught up to Barnes, who had been batting for three-quarters of an hour. “This is the cricket we like to see” was the cry. Bradman was good in Brisbane, better in Sydney, but this was Bradman at his best, right from the pistol, and his running showed that his leg trouble was a thing of the past. At lunch he had scored 30 in 42 minutes, Barnes was 20, made in 87 minutes, and the total was one wicket for 71. Good so far for Australia. England Unfortunate And not so good for England. Misfortunes were piling up against |the side. La'ngridge, one of the chosen, had hurt himself at practice and was out of the match. Edrich, the star of the second test, fielding at short leg, got the full force of a mighty hit by Barnes on the inside of his leg above the knee and was off the field for the rest of the day. Voce, after opening the bowling, strained his groin and a second substitute fielded for him. England was without its two fastest bowlers on a wicket that was suited to fast bowling. All this, added to the loss of the toss, was enough to daunt any team.

Yet spirit of the English can be seen from the scoreboard about 5 p.m. It read six wickets for 192. Five batsmen, among the best in Australia, had tumbled since lunch for 121 runs. Barnes had fallen to Bedser, Hassett and Miller to Wright, Bradman and Johnson to Yardley. In spite of misfortune, England had „ fought back strongly. Bradman after lunch did not fulfil his early promise. He was over two hours in adding 47 to his score, and much of the credit for subduing him must be given to Yardley. The Yorkshireman is only a change bowler in his county team, but he was called to the position of stock bowler when Voce fell by the way, and the opportunity made the man. For the second time running he ended Bradman’s innnings and also secured the wicket of Johnson next ball His record of two wickets for 50 off'2o overs shows ability that possibly in the past has not been recognised He bowls- a medium-paced swinger with a perfect length. For quite a while Bradman and Miller were kept very quiet when facing him. Miller once again fell to the slow spinner. Hassett after a period when' his feet seemed to be sending roots into the ground, snicked Wright into Hammond’s safe hands, uprooted his feet and departed. For the remainder of the day it was Australia’s turn to fight back, and thanks to McCool and Tallon the score was six wickets for 255 at stumps. McCool’s Fine Display

So it .continued. And so well did McCool bat on the second day that with one accord the palm was . given to him for the finest batsmanship of the innings. His 104 not out was a proof that Australia possesses in him an outstanding all-rounder comparable with such as Giffen, Noble and Gregory of past years. The last four wickets, witn him dominating the situation, produced almost as many runs as the first six.

When England ,had lost Hutton for two in a disastrous opening, their advantage as at 5 o’clock on the first day had been wiped out and the seesaw had reached another high and low. Edrich the lion-hearted, who had recovered from his blow, joined Washbrook and the see-saw began to go into reverse. Steadily these two restored the fortunes of England, and with the score at one for 147 England ended the second day on top. The third day continued the game of see-saw. Within an hour England had struck earth with a bump. Edrich added only four to his overnight score of 85, a surprise and probably incorrect decision ending his innings. It was hard on England. Compton contributed 11, Hammond fell to the spin bowler Dooland, this time, and Washbrook was caught behind. Four wickets had fallen for 32 runs and now England was in a position like that of Australia on the first afternoon. It was the general opinion at lunch that England ‘during the' morning had let the match slip out of its hands, but the seesaw was still in oscillation. Shortly .before the tea adjournment the position favoured England once more. The board read five for 290, and England, with five wickets m hand, had to make only 75 runs to equalise. England was both scoring and soaring. But by the time of the adjournment, both Yardley (61) and Ikin (48) had fallen to be followed first ball after tea by Voce (0) and eight wickets were down for 298.

< Equilibrium Restored Evans and Bedser with surprisingly good batting. Bedser particularly, showed that the tail could wag, and when the last ,man Wright, came in the same impression was made. By the end of the innings the see-saw had reached a practical equilibrium with only 14 runs separating the. teams as they started their second innings. With a good wicket and the promise of settled weather it is still anyone s game. Let Bradman make a duck and Hammond a century, and England could win. An expert, they say, is one who can tell what is going to happen, and then explain afterwards why it didn’t.