THE SECOND TEST MATCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2288, 6 January 1898, Page 36

THE SECOND TEST MATCH.

A PINa STAND BY THE AUSTRALIANS

Melbourne, Jtnuary 1

The second test mitcu between England and Australia began Ltra to-d»y. C»*o ! , brt'ezy weather was enjoyed and abou 4 ; 25 000 p'-rsons were present.

It was feared a', fi-st that Rawjitsiubji would be unable to play, but on Macl»ren losing the toss he decided to send the prince into the field, and t3 place him in the bitting l*st. Liter iv the day he t<-ft his p'acc la the fi-^d to have a thro it operation p^rf-irmed by Dr Br dy, ot Sydney, that gpn'leoutu having arrived this moruiug for the purpose. Dr Bmd\ removed an ab.-ce^s from off the prince's palate, and aa hour later Ratijitoinhji resumed his position at point.

Stoddart and Board stood out of the English team.

M'Leod was txieedingly cau*.iou3 at fiLNt, beiug unable lo get a good sight of Ihe ball, »n>i only got 5 ot the fi.st 50 runs th^t were scored in 58 minutes The first wicket fell with the tcore at 43. M'Leod after«atd-« kept up s>n even p%c<> with Mill, and carried the total to 167 for the s.-cond wickt-r, when Hill stepped close back on the wick* t and wan caught and hit wicket with the sa'iie ball Hill batted one hour and 55 U'linnte^ H« hi r only otic 4, but any number of 3's. The outfieHing was slow. RTLeod played a fi ie, caret ul, determined inni igi», and except for a niiabib, which cleared the slips, never made a' bad stroke. He was in four hours aud five minutes, and only hit four boundaries. The best thing in his iuningi was his pei f« ct placing betwei- n the field- men. He savrd himself a lob of cxc tion iv the forcing game. Storer got him with the l>»st ball of his fiivt over, he having gone on at 2.37 p.m. The third wicket fell at 244. There seemed to be greater ri-ik in Storer'u high tosses than in the bowling of the others, Gr- gory gitbing him away badly through the slip-i, while he gave a hard chance to liny ward when his score was at 34. The return split t.be fieldrman's hand, compellii g him to leave the field Gregory's w^ikness for short ruus cmseJ much anxiety, and he nearly ran oat Iredale, who hai been suffdring a good deal from iusom.iia, and commenced his iunitigs irresolutely. At the close of the d^y'a play the Australian score stood at 283 tor three wickets.

The day's cricket could hardly be called exciting, as the Australians payed doggedly and t ( 'Ok no risks. Most of the tsam had suffered so much from the four terrib'e dajs' heat in the intercolonial mafceh thit any improvement in the men's play can hardly be expected betwen this and Monday. Givgory especially showed little of his old d<i.sh, rartly bringing off the leg strok(-s of which he is such a master, and being content to jlice the bowling mildly through the slips for 2's and singles.

In spite of the slow character of the play great interest was taktn iv the game, the "gate" for the day amounting to £1207. Cinematograph picturt-s were taken of such incidents as the captains tossing, &c.

Gfeat disappointment was caused by Ranji's auuouuc ment daring the morning that, in obi dience to his doctor's orders, he would not pay. Thereup >n Stoddart went back to the hotel for his own flannels ; but the prince, whose zeal had meAnwhile overcome his discretion, presen'ly pub in au appearance and announced his willingness to play. Stoddart accordingly withdrew. Rnnji was absent from the field for a portion of the afternoon, during which he underwent a surgic-il operation ot a minor chiracte*. He returned yery pluckily at the earlia3b minulp, but it was plain that he felt fielding lo be burdensome, and, though there were iuterrnitibtnt flashes of brilliancy, he failed to do himself anything like justice. The spectatoro. in evident ignorance

of the circumstance, " barracked " him wifhonS etiut for hie slackness.

The feature of the day was the batting oE M'Leod, which, though nob at any time savouring of brilliance, was sound, steady, and exceedingly ußefal. He remained at the wickets while 244 tuns wore compiled. He made very few false strokes, and gave on'y one actual cbauce. His score included five 4's and nine 3's. The ball which dismissed him was a beauty. While he was partnered with Gregory some sharp running was done. Once M'Leod escaped dismissal by throwing himself flab on the ground, but it was a. very close thing, and Phillips, to the general relief, shook his head in reply to Storer's appeal. Hill's dismifsal was peculiar. He was out in two ways. In making his stroke he hit bis wicket, but Storer appealed successfully for a catch. The method of the Sou";h Australian's dismissal was entered officially as % catch. Seeing that he hib his wicket; prior to the catcb, it may ba doubted whether any cognisance of the c-ttch could be properly taken, Gregory was not in his best form, and he had a good deal to be thankful for, particularly when facing Storer. The latter bowled extremely well, but with dreadful luck. Generally the Australians appeared to have a much better command over the bowling' than in tho first test match. The fi.-Idiug of the BLglishmen Ucked little of the brillUney they first d'splayed. The ground was much slower than at Sydney, and the wicket did not play *s well as was anticipated. It-may hold good till the finish of the g-»me, but present indications point to it crumbling.

January 3. The match was continued in beautiful weather. There wa^ an immense attendance. The wicket was found to be badly cracked all over from the heat of the eun, but it played mucb better than wss txpecbod. Gregory, who was sufl> ring fiom a cold, greatly improved; but Iredale was i<i bed all Suodiy. Both payed a much faster game th^n on Saturday, Gregory attempting more of his pull strokes, with which he score 5 ) freely on the Sydney ground. Afc 310 Gregory pulled one of Btipgs's b*ck nearly a f-iofc. He gave only ..ne change — to Hay ward. when he bad scored 34, — but for the first tima in his life played an innings of 70 wi'.b. iid getting more than three 4's. yixly-uix was the result of the parf-nerehip. Trott, the next awn, played wi'h ex'-reme caution at first, and in 40 minutes had made only 2 runs, but after lunch rattled on the ruus at a spleadid pace, scoring 50 in the same number of minuses. Every houl-ir on the EngUsh side wai tried, including Pt irer aud Mhsuji. A splendid tff-irfc was made by Hearne to ch<c'q Trott at the fosice, wh«n Tro*;t; wa« 15, but beyond that chance both he aud Iredale p ! ay**d fa.ukl«Bs cricket, and carried the score to 434, when Iredale, trying an off drive, hit low to Rau>j;t» sh'hji at point. Tbe catch wa« well t*krn. Irtd.'le g».,ve no ch-tnce till this. He batted ior two hours and 46 ruinu'es, bui his play was on th+> cautious »ide, and he os.ly scored cix four*. He aud Trott put o-i 124, the e*me as tbe p-irtue ship betwe'-n' HM and M'Leod. N i bl made afi \e start with a c'ean off drive, for which »-c is fivm-d, but' at 453 he lifted hi* bat, as in the tnafc'v New S<-'Uth Wales *gainjfc England in Syduey, a<id allow -d Richardson to b-iwl his mid<lle stump withaafc playing at the ball. T u f oM«- was pazzl-d by Msson, bufc wasg«iii g finely till, when trjiug an off drive, he w«s 6-».*.r He- ught by Hirst. The seventh wicket ft-ll a» 470. There w»-re sevt- r»l appeals for \bw wbil^- S nrer wan on, aud h« gay») the batsmen most d fficuit.y, but when at th« wickets he was jeered at by the crowti for constantly taking off th*- bails, b~>iug wrath tut the decis'OQ-- in his appeals for Jbvr, aud b> declared ih«fc AasfcraJ.an unipires di } n-jt know hovv to say " Odt." The" Au<.tr»li.'ii>s adouttd the policy of detpnnined paiiencß all through the innings, and though B ig s s to«(-ed up pomf of the sioaplest-k-oki. gs>uff he could not tempt them to anyttm.g at p'onching leuldessjieM. N^ver peraaps iv * tvore of the shuk' magui ud« r-jwe so few balls been lifted off the g>-«si. Five hundred were Ff.orei in 8 hours 27 rui' ut*B. During Trott and Kelly's partiif r^hi»i, wir.h the sc-jre afc 509 frolt tryuig an off drive, just cle*«:ed poiufc'3 he-^d, but, was easiiy caught at cover. He h*d be-:u batting thr-»e hou.-s and 13 minutes, and only g*ve oi.e eh"nee, au a'most itnposibl* one. H tcuvd 11 4'h. For a titne Trott ha« been suff ring fr .m ill-hea.Uh (ki^i>ey complaint), and hi« batring in this and the la>e in'ercolonin.l noa'ehfs is couerqutly the more re» ma.rkabl*». Kelly, in abWtnotiiAg a big h't, was caught at cover, and afttr come light; e«'m-dy b-twei-n Jones and M'K>iibin ihe U H'ngs closed ftf >t 520, or 10 less than England got. in Sydney. Ttse Australians ba-i been batting 8 hours s.nd 52 minutes. Otving to the cracked eoodition of the wieketonly a very light: roller could be used preparatory to England batting.

The start of England's iunings w*s eensatit't.al. Maclaren had only scored 2 when M'Ki'ibiu nmsi'd an easy catch in the slip-, off Trumbln, but wh^n 10 ruus had been tcorud he clean bowled Mhsoq. The total attendance was nearly 27;000. The amount t»k<-n a*, the gate was £1297. Scores :— Australia. — First Innings. Darling, c lLi>t, b Briges ... ... 36 M h'iO'i, b „ ... 112 Hill, c Stoier, b Hay ward 5S Gi<K'>ry, Ii Brisks 71 Iredale, c Ranjil&inhji, b Hirst ... 89 Tiott, c AVdiuwnght, D Briggs ... 8.4 Noble, b Richaid»on 17 Trumble, o Hir«t, b Mason 14 Kf-lly, c Richardson, b Hearne ... 19 Jones, run out 7 M'Kibbin, not out 2 Sundries ... „. ... ... 16 Total 520 Richardson look one wicket for 114, Hirst one for 89, Brigg.s three for 96, Hearne one for 94, M.isou one for 33, Hay ward one for 23, Storer one for 55. England —First Innings. Mison, b M'Kibbin 3 Macliiren, not out ... 9 Wain wright, not out ... ... ... 3 Sundries ... 7 Total for one wicket ... ... 22

A London cable states that at the sculling carnival on the Tyne J. White won the Christmas Handicap, defeating James Wray (of New South Wrtlea), who conceded the winner 17* ec start. George Towns (of New South Wales) al;o compjttd in the semi-fiaal, but wa» defeated easily in this heat.

In the 220 yds swimming championship of. New South Wales, L%ne beat S. Cavill by 6yds. Time, 2inin 41ssc.

At the Riverton regatta on Saturday a dingey race for £100 a-eide between R Dixon (of Bluff) and H. Boniface (of Riverton) was wott by the latter visry easily.

A New York cable states that Gaudaur is willing lo row Wray, the Australian sculler, on lha Thames for 2Coodol a-side, with 500dol for expr-nses.

The Gothic established a record on her trip from Port Chalmers to Wellington, covering the distance between heads and heads in 22 hours 20 minutes, and maintaining a speed of between 14£ and 15 knots per hour.