“TIRESOME TEST” AT THE OVAL

Southland Times, Issue 23677, 28 November 1938, Page 6

“TIRESOME TEST” AT THE OVAL

INVERCARGILL RESIDENT’S OPINION OF MATCH “If England expects to wrest the Ashes from Australia the next time the two countries meet she will have to find a stronger team than the one which played in the last series of Tests,” said Mr A. V. Poole, a former Southland cricket captain, who returned to Invercargill yesterday. Mr Poole saw the Tests in the last series during his tour abroad. He described the historic fifth Test at the Oval in which several records were made as “the tiresome Test.” Games like the last Test were no good to the game, he said. The cricket generally was unenterprising and not as attractive as the county games in which the spirit of cricket was given a better interpretation. Indeed there was a general feeling in England that the people who followed the game would sooner watch a game between two counties than bother to “sit out” Test games.

The idea of timeless Tests, if fostered at all, was soon dispelled by English critics. The fifth Test killed it, and in future he felt sure that the Tests would be limited to four or five days at the most. “There is more enthusiasm for county cricket than for Test cricket. That was the impression I gained,” said Mr Poole. “As for the last Test, the general impression was that it would be uninteresting because of the grip held by Australia on the Ashes. There was justification for this impression. The batsmen took no liberties and just plodded along even though there was nothing at stake.” Mr Poole thought there was more finish about the Australian team. The batsmen went after runs and made the most of scoring opportunities. The English batsmen on the other hand seemed content to wait. They lost many chances to get runs. He could not understand why Bradman dropped McCormick in the last Test. It was a mystery, he said, particularly as McCormick was the only bowler in the team capable of giving O’Reilly assistance. Moreover McCormick had shown that his form was good. He saw Hutton get his record score, but he preferred the batting of Brown or McCabe. “A hundred by Brown or McCabe was worth watching compared with Hutton’s big score,” he said. Hutton was a solid batsman and Compton and Edrich were likely to do well in future Tests. Unless England found a stronger all round team for Australia, however, it could not expect to regain the Ashes.