THE AUSTRALIAN ELEVEN. Opinions of Leading Players.

Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 60

THE AUSTRALIAN ELEVEN. Opinions of Leading Players.

W. G. Grace. — A strong batting and fielding side, but the weakest m bowling that has ever visited England. Cotter on a bumpy wicket will no doubt be dangerous, but as I have never seen him bowl, 1 can no* say what he is' lik°,ly to do on good ones. Glad Darling is coming. He will strengthen the team in many ways. A. G. Steel.— Think the team a good one, but not up to the form of the last combination — lacking in bowling, and will greatly miss .Crumble. J. T. Tyldesley. — A strong batting side — if Trumper, Duff. Hill, and Noble are in good form — and wil want a lot of .beating in three days. Cotter will be of more use than Jones. I expected they would have chosen Jennings and Claxton, who, in my opinion, are preferable to two already selected. Trumble will be missed. P. F. Warner. — Very strong in batting, but the bowling not particularly strong. G. Li. Je?sop.— Taking the team as a whole, it is a fine all-round combination, which wil 1 ne-ed all the resources at our command to defeat. And what is more, given a majority of hard wickets, there are more unlikely things than that the test honours may eventually 1 be divided, despite the playing of the last match to a finish. F. S. Jackeon. — As far as I can judge — though, of course, I cannot speak with any authority about the new members' of the team, as I have not seen them — the side as a whole should form a strong combine tion. A tevy gcod batting side, including at least three left-handers. Sure to be a good fielding side. But they will assuredly miss Trumble and a left-hand bowler. Cotter may prove a great success, though, judging from what I have heard from members of the M.C.C. team, he may also prove r failure in England. If England can find the bowlers to get rid of • this strong side for a reasonab'e score, they should, I think, have a good chance of winning the test matches. But I fancy the bowling will have to be the chief consideration in selecting the team to represent England. W. L. Murdoch. — As apparently the Austvalians are all retaining their form, they will be very ptrong in batting and fielding. Their bowling, however, is rather weak, and they will greatly miss a left-hand bowler. Trumble is an irreparable loss. William tJunn. — A capital batting and fielding side, who will hold their own on gocd wickets. More variety in the bowling would have considerably strengthened them. F. Hayward. — Team strong in batting, but would like to have seen some of the new men, Claxton, Jennings, or Collins. The bowling is weak, especially ov a slow wicket. They will miss Trumble. G. H. Hirst. — Australia has chosen a fine allround team. Should Cotter prove a success, England will have to play hurd to win. L. C. J3raund. — Without doubt a very good team. I can scarcely see how Australia could strengthen it. Both batting and bowling' are, in my opinion, good, though many think they might be weak in the latter. A. A. Xiilley. — I don't think they could have improved upon the team., which, on the whole, is a good one. S. M. J. Woods. — The side coming over is much like the Yorkshire side — every one a good one.. It will take a lot of beating. H. K. 'Fester. — A good all-round team, not dependent on any particular man. They may, however, feel the want of a bowler to keep aB end up. A. O. Jones. — Thin]- tho Australian batting side a very fine one, but have my doubts about the attack, particularly without a left-handed bowler. The severest criticism on the part of a player is that of Arnold, who was here a year ago with Warner's side. '"Not a very good team.' he wire*. "Weak in bowling, especially on sticky wickets." The tables given below will show at a glance the performances of the present Austialian Eleven : — AVERAGES IN 1902. Battixg.

A BIG SCORE. _ , SYDNEY, February 28. In the cricket match Sydney versus Melbourne Universites tho latter in their first innings scored 146 and in thoir second have &ix wickets down for 159. Sydney University in their first innings scored 607, Waddv making 309.

BOWI.ING. O. M. R. Armstrong .. G9i 206 1410 Hopkins .. „ 242 67 C 69 Howell .. '.. i 97 14S 1215 Xoble .. ... r .. 73S 213 Wo Truniper . . „ 152 43 415 AVERAGES IX PREVIOL'S W. Avg. 81 17.40 33 1~.60 6S 17. SG 9^ 19 84 20 20.75 TOUES. BVTTIXG.

Frump c* SToble . r Exll Duff Armstrong Sopkms Darling .. Jre^ory .. Jelly ilowell .. inn. N.O. H.S. ..53 0 19,8 .. 48 5 254 ..52 1 136 ..58 5 183 ..51 10 172* ..54 8 105' ..51 5 12ft a . 52 6 86 .. 33 8 75 ..24 6 16 'Xot out. Total, 2570 1416 1614 1507 1087 1192 1113 999 36S 95 Aye. 48.49 32.93 31.01 28.43 26.51 25.93 24.19 21.17 14.72 5.27

G regory Dariicg Hill Kelly Howell fR. I A jr. I A. fR. "I A. (K. /nIA. f"R. \A. ICDO 1S1? 1896 SCS 31fiG 11G1 12 35 23 23 31 28 — — 1555 — — 29.47 — — 1196 — — 27.35 — — 490 — — 16.10 1899. 1181 27.20 1941 41.11 879 39.21 768 23.90 160S 37.17 307 JJLI7 1902. 990 21.71 1113 24.19 1614 31.64 3GS 14.72 IH6 32.29 95 £.27

M'Lcocl -[ T rum per -! v" Hopkins |^- Armstrong -f !/• 5i4 — 17.17 — 1556 2570 34.26 48.49 — 1507 — -3.4.3 — 1193 — 25.91 — ICS7 — 26.51 Bowling. Noble .. .. Howell .. .. ISOO. (R IP7B ..-{W. 82 lA. 22.74 (B. 2381 .AW. 117 lA. 20.41 1902. 1345 98 19.84 1215 CS 17.85 M'Leod . . (R. iaco ..<\V. SI lA. 22.73 Hopkins .. Armstrong .JW. — lA. — IA. — 669 3S 17.60 1410 81 17.40