Tough Job For Aust

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30954, 10 January 1966, Page 3

Tough Job For Aust

[From IV J O’REILLY. N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent I SYDNEY. I Australia is faced j with a very tough as- . signment in saving the ■ third test: odds are | heavily in favour of an ! English victory. From here onward England; can afford to take unaccus-l tomed risks in handling its' spin bowlers so that they can] keep pressure on bitsmenl who will be conscious of the I fact that the wicket will ■ favour spin. I expect that Smith will find it convenient to give Barber’s leg-spin bowling an! exhaustive trial on the re-! maining days. Solo Effort Hawke’s magnificent effort.; collecting seven wickets from 33 overs, received so lit.le support that England was able to add another 160 runs to an overnight score which ' had already looked impres-l sive enough Hawke bowled wonderfully I well. He answered every call ! that Booth made upon him' and batted courageously throughout his long task. In the morning session he surprisingly enough managed to cut the ball back off the pitch, a trick’ which gave Australian batsmen still to face the music gloomy foreboc’ ’gs of events to some. Edrich emphasised his value to the English side by scoring another test century, and thereby practically putting a seal on an English win.

Edrich came in when Boycott's wicket fell and hi stayied there unruffled through- ■ out the dismal procession started by Hawke on Fri lay i afternoon. I Unruffled Edrich j He is not one to fill teami mates with confidence as he | faces spin bowlers: his foot- ; work appears to be slow nd .(sometimes quite awkward. | He is not keen to get down 'the wicket preferring tc move jon to his back foot to watch I the ball carefully coming off 'the pitch. But that does not matter, much, 1 suppose, when a man; :can stick there long enough Ito compile a valuable cenItury. Allen rubbed salt in enthusiastically when he shielded the last man. Jones, away i from the bowling long enough to put together his own halfcentury and to figure prominently in a vital tenth-wicket partnership. Surprise Loss Australia’s stocks dropped sadly when Lawry went for! none in his first over. Austra-; lia has come to rely h •avily ! on a solid contribution froml the left-hander. It is not often one sees; Lawry flirt with fate as he did facing Jones’s first over. Twice he played balls moving away outside the off stump in purely defensive fashion—the second attempt was fatal. He got an outside edge and gave an easy catch to Parks. Hopes rose quickly, how- ' ever, when Thomas opened

out in a style which even Barber must have envied.

He hit his square cuts plumb in the middle of the bat and hooked on the slightest provocation. In the short session before tea—42 minutes—he rattled up 30 runs with such abandoned enthusiasm that Smith hurriedly decided to bottle up the barrage immediately after the adjournment. This he did by bringing on Boycott to bowl his slowmedium stuff tightly at | Thomas’s leg stump. I do not hold out great i hopes of Boycott ever becom- . ing a wicket-taking test match

bowler: neither, I suppose, does he himself. He has no need to. But if he should manage it some day I am prepared to bet him that some finicky batsman will ask him to remove that white sweat-band he wears on his wrist. ! Boycott carried out his task; effectively for three overs—long enough to tease Thomas out of his run-getting groove.] In trying to recapture hisj early mood Thomas resorted! to exaggerated use of the, hook shot which ultimately I proved his undoing.

Diving Catch What a glorious catch Parks took to dismiss Burge. I doubt if I have seen better. Burge, who had difficulty in handling Brown’s bowling, got an inside edge to a flyer, pitched on the off stump, and Parks, diving wide, grabbed the ball magnificently in his left hand as he fell. When Booth went to a snicked attempt at an offdrive, Australia was definitely well “down the drain.” This occasion demanded a really solid effort from the Australian captain. With Cowper still there, batting confidently, and Walters still to come, Australia will be banking all on their partnership. No one will envy them the job. It’s just about as tough as jobs come. But they will have a lot of people with them, “boots and all.”