STODDART'S CRICKET TEAM,

Otago Witness, Issue 2292, 3 February 1898, Page 35

STODD ART'S CRICKET TEAM,

THE FOUKTH TEST MATCH.

Melbourne,^ January 29.

The greab cheer that went up showed that the fcossiDg of the fateful coin had again given Trotfc the advantage for the third time. Trott's luck is now in danger of becoming a household word. At starting the weather was as disagreeable as ib well could be— a hob, strong wind blowiug along th«i wiokefc. Hirst and Board cid not play for the Englishmen.

RichfU'dson opened the bowling to Darling aud M'Lecd, the latter breaking the ice with a single. Hearne tock up the bowling; ab the southern end. Hia fifth ball M'Leod played on to hia wickeS. A bad start — one wicket tor a b;Dg T e. Hiil was the nexi batsman. Both players were cautious, occasionally getting a fiurer in. Darling was the first iiiio double figures, but his fellow colonist had jasb lied him rt 12 when Darlisg spooned one to Hearte, which was accepted. Gregory succeeded, bub Richardson's firsb clean bowied h"m Iredale came nexb, but Hearue'a th'rd ball in the nexb over proved fatal bo the incomer, who jusb tipped ib into Storer's hand*. The Sr->t 45 minutes saw four ba'smen Buccuoab, Rv.d a chill settle on the Australian supporters. Noble followed, bat after getting 4 lifbed a ball from Hearne back bo him. Trobr, who came next;, was nearly run oab in trying a diffLult run for a bib by Hill. The labber continued to add sieves to the total, but, on the whole, the work was Blow and cautious, i he English fieldirg being sslendi<3. Hayward took Richardson's place at 42, Hill greeting him with a drive for 3, and the over resulting in 6 runs more. B.jggs relieved Hearne, and bhe luncheon adjournment then intervened. The Australians, when questioned, abbribuled their wretched display to the fact thab one end of the pitch bad been excefsively watered, resulting in thab end being slow, while bhe other was very fast, so thab they were quite unable to time the ball. The firsfc ball after lunch gave Trott his quietus. He jusfc touched it, and Sborer snapped ib up. Trumble was the nexb batsman. Briggs gave way to Hearne, while Richardson took Hayvrard'a place. There were great hopes that Trumble would repeab his Sydney performance. Hill, with very pretty strokeß stead'ly lifted his score. Fa'sfc and slow made little d fference to him, and Trumble was soon hard atwoik, but gmart fielding prevented what looked like certain boundaries. A funny stroke was that of Hill's which brought his halfcentury up. He tried fco drag ifc to the on, but ifc carried him off his feet. He touched the ball, however, which streaked to the fence, and the next he succeeded ia getbing to the on for another 4. The youth's inningn from this poiub was a steady one and ab times brillianb. Then he f«lb enticed to take liberties, and began to lish Richardson sll over the field, ecoriug 10 off the Surrey express in ono over. Storer appealed for a catch off Trumble, which caused the crowd to keep up a running fire of ironical comment. Richardson gave way to Biiggs, Trizuibla was a long time ia

I getting double figures. The century ap- ; pearcd after two hours and a-quarter's j batting. Hill punished Hearne unmerci- [ fully and Hayward relieved him at 115. The young Adelaide batsman gradually worked towards his century, wbile Trumble con*vi>led | himself with defective cricket, and all B.iggs's wiles could nob tempt him. Hiil continued ti do all the work, sending up boundaries in qu ; ck succesiion and bringing his century in eight p.midsb great applause. He was batting two hours and 40 minutes for his hundred. Sfcodds,rt took the ball from Brings, Richardson displacing Hayward, but the partnership was not troubled, and the piir were together at the tea adjournment. Upon rfc&urning runs cams steadily. Trumble aod Hill promised to retrieve the disgraceful rofc of the earlier part of the day. Ikth mep completely ctlT-srei the bowing, and yarkus changes of atfock proved ineffectual. Hill judged his strokes beautifully. Hearne took up the bowlirg again, Stoddarb snd Storer taking turua at Richardson's end. F<'uc hours' work fet.b the second century up, Hill scoring a couple cf boundaries in succession off Storer.' The wind changed to a cooler quarter late in tha att&rnoou. Trumble at 46 lifted Stcrer, and Mason rau in from the outfield aud effected a brilliant citeh. The Victorian had played a ehanceless, solid innings of two hours 32 minutes' duration. Kylly, who joint d Hi!', sent Storer at once to the ftnee, repealing (.he dote immediately afterwards. S"to<-er then resumed his position behind the wjckefca, Briggs takiog tie ball from him. Hill was still playipg grandly, and a couple of beautiful back cuts off Briggs bto'tght him close on D-vtliug'a Adelaide score. Kelly pKyed carefully, giviug his partner the opportunity to score. Almost continuous applause greeted the Adelaide boy's brilliant 4's. Waimvtight then mado his first appearance ns a bowler in a test match, relieving Briggs. Hill received an ovation as he put 179 to his credit without a chance. K'lly, hitbing beautifully, got into the twenties in a few minute=, and then sbumps were drawn. The official sbabement is thab 19,600 paid for adoifsion, the money tssken at the gates bting £902, Ib was a close thing between Worrall and Jones for eleventh man in the Australian team. Ib was only after practice yos'erday that Jones was able to s*y whether his shoulder would permit him fo play. Great crowds of visitors from bhe country and the neighbouring colonies have been trooping into the city to see the match, which may decide the rubber. In cricketing circles feeling strongly favours tha Australians' chances. January 31. With bhe thermometer ab 107 in the bhade and 156 in the gun ib 13 no wonder thab bhe attendance at the test match was not so large a? was expected. Pteparations had been made for 30 000, but the acbual attendance was a litt'e under 20,000, the rece'pbi tolling £903. j Iv common with test matches which have gone before, this match furnished its sensatiocs, for after losing six of their bssb wickets in shorb order for a miserable 53 runs ! the Australians made a fine recovery. Eirly I d - s*sbers followed each other in rapid succe3- ' sinn. M'Leod was the first to go. He played Hearne hard on to the ground, bhe b.>ll dribbling slowly on bo his wicktb. Ha tried at the laft moment to save it, but ib was too late. Datling was dismissed by one of bhose catches which the Englishmen had missed one after another at Adelaide, but they did not miss bhem on Saturday. There was more trouble to follow. Gregory came, and R'lchardson bowled him first ball. Icedale tried to cub Hearce, but, hitting too late, was caughb at the wicket. Noble did 'not do much betber. He had returned one or two perilously near Hearne, and Hearne made gre-»t dashes ab them ; bub the batsman did this i,oo often, aud the bowler to^k a pretty catch close to the ground. Hearne's average wss improving, for whereas his firsb bwo wickets had co&t 9 run«, his firsb three had cost but 11. The posibion with ha'f the wieke's ilown for 32 runs was sufficiently remarkable, and waa to be attributed more to the weakness of t,lie babting than anybUng else. Mucb, however, was due to fche bowling 1 , tnd the fielding was even fioer than bhe bowling. With the dismissal of Tro'ub jusb after the luncheon adjournment came the turn of the tid^, and things began to look brighter for the Australians. For the recovery Hill was vnucipaliy responsible, bub the grcaiuesf of his performance must not be allowed to dwarf that of Tramble, who helped to add 155 runs for Iho seventh wickefe. Ti unable was there to keep his wicket up, and he kept ifc up for very nearly ! three hcucc«. He played almost a wholly defeusive game, and left his par'nar to do the rtmgetting. Trumble gave a chiuco *t the wicket about & third of the way through his innings, but otherp>iae ih was safe, a'i<T c'nfl bibtiog, though slow, never quite dreary. His •succeea was all the more conspicuous after tLo downfall of the batsmen in front of him. Tbis downfall it is nob possible to explain. The bowling waa good, but nob brilliant — ab any ratf, nob nearly good enough to account for such a collapse. Thrse who itii?is*ed that any explanation wss Letter than none presently cast the. blame upon the wioket, -which before the commencement of the gsme had worn a lovely appearance. Ib was impossible, however, to fix the responsibility there. The umpires declared the wicket • excellent at tha fctait. Trotb stabfd that there was nobbing to complain of ; Iredslo aud Noble thought ib very slow at the pavilion e^jd ; M'Leod defcribad- it as a bib choppy. Taking tha tesutaony in the bulk, ib is fair to conclude that there t?aß not much wrong. It seems thab of latent has become the cusbom on bhe Melbourne ground to cover the wicket with tarpaulin overnight if there is the remotesb possib'lity of rain. On Fridjy the grcund was watered in the evening and tarpaulin was laid down. The result was that the inoVure came to the surfaca and was coufined there by the coveriug. The moisture, however, soon evaporated, and after the luncheon adjournment the wicket w?s fa<t and brue. Hih's innings is one thrt will always linger in the minds of those who saw it. He made 182 out of 274 runs pub on while he was ab the wickets. Never once did he look Hka getting out. For ju3t one over he was in dtflicult'es againsb Hearue, bub before aud after bhab he had bhe bowling afc his mercy. For most of the time he flogged it righb well. There was an interval when he went more slowly. Thab was when there was some danger of the Australians being cub by the tea adjournment. Rain was expected yesterday. It was important that the Englishmen should nob geb the opportunity of oue good wicket before ib came ; but, thanks to i Trutnble, the collapse was averted, and as soon as Hill recognised this he returned to his merry pasting game. Kelly played steady cricket, bub his chief mission evideutiy was to keep up his wicket for Hill'ri bent fit. Raiu fell yesterday in the form of a heavy thunderstorm, but it soon cleared npr&in. P>eseub indications do nob point to the wicket being anything worse than slow. The Government meteorologist, however, predicts unsettled conditions. Tae fourth teat match was resumed to-day in

sweltering weather, rendered more oppreaeiva by the northerly wind enveloping the city in snioke, caused by numerous bush fires. The rain yesterday fell over a very restricted area.

The moruiDg was terribly hot, -pith a thick, smoky atmosphere, when Hill and Kelly, the nofc-outs of Saturday, resumed the Australian innings. Hill only added 6 to his Saturday ' 3 score, when Stoddarfc accepted a catch in the slips off Hearne, thus ending a brilliant innings, characterised by only one chance, which was a techuical one. Jones partnered Kelly, who so far had not displayed the hitting powers of Saturday. The Adelaide bowler opeued his career with four singles in succeHsion. Then the Sydney wicketkeepsr gib away from Saturdtvj's bee.re by a couple of late cv's to the boundary. Jones got into double fijurea and scut the third century up amid3t; cheering, five hours 22 minufc;-<» h^v'njj been taken to reach it. Briggs relieved R ; eharuson, and with the fif^t bhll of the over Storer dismissed Kelly. Howeil was last man. Jones, who waa hitting both bowlers wish five clean strokes, treated Briggs severely. Jon's then mishit one from Heirne to Hayward, and the innings closed fjr 323.

After the wicket had been roiled Maclar, n and Wainwrighb appeared at eight minutes pisb 1 to do battle for England against the bowling of Ho,?ell and Trolfe. The Lancashire man made a couple, when he gave what appeared to be a clear ch'-nce to Kf-lly, who failed to secure the leather ; but when Maclareu added another half-dozen Howelt bowled him off his pad's. Kai'j'tsinbj! j »ined Wainwright aifcf r luneb, bub the latter sent a ball frooa Trobb to Ho well, who caught him low down ak point. Hayw.ird fisted the vacancy, and opened with a drive for a. couple. K«-lly appealed for a catch eft' RanjifcsiDhji behind the sticks, bub it was disallowed. The Pricce expressed his gratitude by making a maguificent drive to the boundary. R-.njifc-siuhji and Ha-yward were playing the bjwhng with great case, making splendid boundary dtives. Although Howeil was bowling splendidly run 3 came freely and equ-iUy to both batsman. Trofcb relinquished the ball to Noble, Truoible taking Howell'a place. Ttumbla's fifth ball Ranjifcainbji lifted to Iredale, and the luniau Prince retired amid tremendous cheers. D.uce succeeded him, but only to see Gregory brilliantly catch his partner off Noble. Storer came next. Noble puzzled the batsmen considerably, and the Derbyshire man only Ecored a eoupla when he drove Trumble b><ck to the bawler. M* e on, whose previous ill success was said to be owing in some measure to his going in firsb man, filled the VAO-mey. Deuce, who had reached double figures, wag batting sfcjl'sbly. Jones relieved Noble, and Mason gob into double figures, bringing up Ihs century after an hour and three-quarter's work. Deuce was almost immediately got leg before bo Jones. Sboddart followed, and commenced sneaking ruas. This aewly proved fatal to Mason, Jones beiijg within an ace of throwing him oufc. After the tea adj urnment a cool breeze camo up, bringing v»ith it clouds of smoke from bush fires, ami the ground waa enveloped in a haza. Shortly after resuming Sfcoddarfc hit out at Jones and placed the leather in Darling's hands at third man. Briggs, who followed, opened his innings with ono of his acrobatic strokes, which he did not seem to know anything about. The alteration of the order of going in was undoubtedly of service to Mason, who by good cricket hit himself into the premier position a<mr>,» the bat-men. Briggs, by lively hitting, gel ioto double figure* in a few mioufces, and Ho«reH replaced Trucnble. At 142 Jones B«nb down a beauty to the Keofc man, -which he failed to negotiate and retired to the pavilion with 30 to his credit. He»rne cams next-, but his secot'.d ball From Jons*? he sent to Trott without altering the score. R'chardson wis last mat?, f.0.3. hard hiUicg on his p&yfc ?oon fi'.w deablo figures bi h's ersJifc. Trost replaced J'>n*s at 170, and bowled the Surrey bowler in hi-< ascend over, 'ho inoings Glo»ing for 174-. Tha A.v traliqn fielding was superb, and fho fact that not a single Runclry was recorded spta.ks volumes in i'self. Being in a rtiinoriiy of 149 Lbe Esi^ll-hiflen hr.d to follow on, aud when stamps were dra°m fo" the day had lebt one wickeh^fcr 7 runs. Wainwrighc and Brigg<s cemmsne^d bafe ing afc a quitter r.o 6 to the bawling of Ho well and Jor.es. The light was extremely ban owing to the smoke. Wainwright, aft'T making a couple, wis solendidlf caught by M'Leod. Ruijitsiubji, when questioned on the subject of the Englishmen's play, (said he «w no pxeuse for the poor s^nd fehey rn«.de ?h>s iime. Taeie play was not vbafc it ought to be. The attendance ie-day numbered 15,000. Th« ca9h b-»ken amounted to £'373. Hill was presented by the presidaib of the Criokfct Association with a trophy. The following arc iho : — Au'-TiiA.!'. vss -—First Innings. M'LerJ, I) HjMrce 1 THrlni!?. c Uearne, b Richarison ... 12 ■V^IIiU. c Stodd.u-S, b Seams ISB • ■iiegoiy, b Richardson ... 0 Irei'ali?, c Ktorer. b Hearna ... ... 0Noble, c and L Hearne 4 Trott, c Htoivr, b Ilearue 7 Trumbli*, c Mason, b Storer 4i Kolly, c Storer, b Brig's S2 Jones, c Haywarrf, b llearne 20 How ell, not nut , 9 Extras ... , 4 Total 323 Bowj.incj Analysis. — Richardson, two wickets for lOJruna; Hearne, six for !)8 ; Brigtf, one for 38; Wainwright, none for 11: Hay ward, none for 24 ; btod iarfc, none for 22 ; Storer, oue for 24. Stodd wit's Team. Fiist Innings. Mac'areii, b Hovfell 8 Wainwiighr, c Howeil, b Trot ... (5 Ranj itbinlij i. c Iredale, b Trumbls ... 24 Hayward, c Gregory, b Noble ... ... 22 Druce, lbw, b Jones 24 S^rer, c and b Trumbla ... ... 2 Mason, b Jones 30 Sbnddart, c Parling, b Jones 17 ~Riit£g^,, not out , ... 21 Hearne, c Trott, b Jones 0 Richardson, b Trott 20 ToTal 174 Bowling Analysis. — Howeil, one wicket for 34 runs ; Jonos, four for SG ; Noble, one for 21 ; Trumble, two for 30 ; Trott, two toe 33. Second Innings. Wahiwright, c M'Leod, b Jones ... 2 BrigK*, not out 4 Extra ... 1 Total for one wicket 7

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