WAGGED OUT OF THE RUBBER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17526, 1 May 1925, Page 7

WAGGED OUT OF THE RUBBER.

HOW ENGLAND LOST. JACK HOBBS IS FRANK. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright .Sydney “ Sun ” Cable. (Received May 1, noon.) LONDON, April 30. J. B. Hobbs, in an article in the “ Daily News,” refuses to attribute England’s failure to recover the ashes to bad luck. Although Gilligan lost four tosses, there were periods in each of the test matches, he says, when England had more than a sporting chance. With just a little more luck, she might have won the rubber. The Australians

were the better side, because their tail batsmen rose to the great occasion. “Undoubtedly these batsmen are better than our tail men. We were all painfully surprised at Oldfield's and Mailey’s resistance and ability. When the Australian tail was wagging, the ball always reached the fieldsmen with more spit and devil. The Australians were always downright optimistic, like cocksure Americans. Some of the tail batsmen whom I privately regarded as rabbits came to me and said, ‘You will have to be smart to-day, Jack. I am going to get 100.’ “That spirit prevailed in the entire Australian side, even in the tail which wagged us out of the rubber.”