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Southland Times, Issue 19249, 13 June 1921, Page 6

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delightful vigour. Woolley sent down the first maiden over of the innings to Pellew.

When the score was 116, in the next over of Woolley's, Bardsley, with a glorious boundary behind the wicket and a straight drive, brought his fifty up for seventy minutes’ play. The crowd was enjoying the fine exhibition and applauded Bardsley. The applause was renewed when Pellew, with a powerful drive, sent Haig past cover point to the ropes. The fielding was fairly clean, but the batsI men’s placing was irresistible, particularly that of Bardsley, who was playing one of his greatest innings. Pellew’s scoring rate was one a minqte. Both batsmen were completely masters of the situation. Pellew followed a perfect shot to the boundary behind the wicket by playing over a ball breaking low. He gave a capital display lasting fifty minutes. Taylor joined Bardsley, and Durston replaced Woolley, whose batting effort resulted in stingless bowling. 150 appeared in 95 minutes. Woolley was tried agai i at 161, Bardsley sending his second delivery to the boundary past third man. Then Durston was put on again at the nursery end, but the rapid changes did not affect Bardsley, who continued perfect shots all round'the wicket. Taylor, apart from one smashing drive past cover to the ropes, played cautiously, getting in front of the wicket over much. Parkin relieved Woolley at 186. He, like his predecessors, found Bardsley’s defence impenetratable. The sun was becoming hotter as the afternoon advanced, and the fieldsmen were working under Australian conditions. Taylor passed the English total with a beautiful drive to the on boundary off Parkin ten minutes before time. After he had been batting for two hours Bardsley was 88. Me then gave a difficult return to Parkin, and the crowd applauded his let off. The scores were:— ENGLAND. —First Innings.— Dipper, b McDonald 11 Knight, c Gregory, b Armstrong .... 7 Hendren, b McDonald 0 Douglas, b McDonald 34 Tennyson, st Carter, b Mailey 5 Evans, b McDonald 4 Haig, c Carter, b Gregory 3 Parkin, b Mailey 0 Strudwick, c McDonald, b Mailey .. 8 Woolley, st Carter, b Mailey 95 Durston, not out 6 Extras 14 Total 187 Bowling analysis:—Gregory one for 51, McDonald four for 58, Armstrong one for 9, Mailey four for 55. Mailey took four wickets for 22 in 26 balls. He bowled one bye.

AUSTRALIA. —First Innings.— Bardsley, not out 88 Andrews, c Strudwick, b Durston .... 9 Macartney, c Strudwick, b Durston .. 31 Pellew, b Haig 43 Taylor, not out 15 Extras 5 Total for three wickets .. .. 191 ENGLAND OUTCLASSED. LONDON, June 11. Twenty-two thousand three hundred and seventy eight people paid for admission to the test match. The newspapers declare that England was outclassed at Lord’s on a perfect wicket. Some critics regard the failure as worse than that at Nottingham, where the wicket helped the bowlers. They contrast the slow and cramped English batting with the contemptuous ease with which the Australians flogged the bowling. NOTES BY TWELFTH MAN. The visit of the Prince of Wales induced the Australians to play an extra day, but how seriously the game was taken can be

gauged from the iact that the wicketkeeper and Andrews were the only ones who did not bowl. With six test victories to their credit, the Australians have gained the confidence that means such a lot to any team. England on the other hand is wnhout that brilliant pair , Hobbs and Hearne, and with a long list of defeats and experimental changes in every match the selected eleven of the Homeland can scarcely be expected to give of its best. The second century of Test matches has begun on the famous old Lord’s ground. In 1878 the Australians won their first big match there, but the ground was in existence as a cricket field many years before. In 1787 Lord’s and the M. C.C. were founded. The Club has had an uninterrupted career since that date, but there were three grounds known as Lord’s. The first (17871810) was situated where Dorset Square now is; the second 11811-13), at North Bank, had to be abandoned owing to the cutting of the Regent’s Canal; and the third, opened in 1814, is that on which the second test match is being played. It was not until 1866 that the freehold of Lord’s was secured by the M.C.C. The great pavilion on the ground was erected in 1890 at a cost of £21,000.

Of the three men who ha* 3 replaced Mead, Hearne and Fry, only Tennyson has not been described in this place. It is therefore sufficient to say of Haig (Middlesex) and Dipper (Gloucestershire) that the former is a good all-rounder, a hitter and a tricky bowler, while the Bristol man is a solid bat.. Tennyson, a grandson of the poet, is about thirty years of age. In 1913 he had a meteoric career in his first season of county cricket. He is a brilliant and stylish bat, but last season, when he captained Hampshire, he did not meet with his pre-war success.

On a good wicket England were disposed of for less than 200 runs, which is little more than a batting failure. Two men got 129 runs, leaving nine others with about 50 between them. Woolley’s 95 will go down as one of the features of the match. The Northants all-rounder is a brilliant bat when he gets goiiig and his display was the one touch of brightness to an afternoon’s dreary batting on the part of the Englishmen. Douglas's 34 was a much more valuable contribution than the report would lead one to believe: Woolley needed a man to keep up the wicket at the other end and his patient skipper was the right man for a work that the average spectator is unable to appreciate. The rest of the batsmen cut very sorry figures at the wickets, although Hendren seems to have been unlucky. The Australian attack was confided to an almost invincible four, of whom Mailey gains his initial success in big cricket on the other side. Armstrong’s figures do not suggest that the veteran skipper was very successful, but he was always a source of trouble to the Englishmen. The value of his tantalisingly accurate length does not always come out in the averages, but its effect on a team which is inclined to be “jumpy” is very great.

Confidence is the keynote of the Aussies’ work at the wickets. Three of the men who have batted so far, Bardsley, Macartney and Pellew are the most brilliant and stylish trio in the team. It looks as if Bardsley on the English tour is going to occupy the place that Armstrong did in Australia as a match winning batsman. I should not be surprised to see Taylor come to light in this innings: Fortune has been none too kind to him of late. With him and Bardsley still at the wickets Australia should be capable of putting up a record score, but there is no saying what tricks the weather will play before Monday morning.

By the way, Carter seems to have established himself as the test ’keeper in England. The veteran’s work with bat and pads in the first test was very fine and it is no disgrace to Oldfield to be superseded by the veteran. The following interesting information about test matches has been compiled by a northern writer:—

England has won the toss 53 times and Australia 48.

Six times only has the captain winning the toss decided to send his opponents to the wickets, and on four occasions disaster has befallen the side which went into the field.

The closest win of the test series was at Manchester in July, 1902. when Australia