FIRST CRICKET TEST

Evening Star, Issue 21742, 9 June 1934, Page 13

FIRST CRICKET TEST

Australia Batting —Five Wickets Down For Moderate Total i: Good Length Bowling Tells ‘ Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright

LONDON, June 8. (Received June 9, at 9.30 a.m.) In the first test Australia won the tass and batted. , ' . 1 , ‘ Wyatt’s injury prevented him trom playing. The teams are;— ENGLAND. AUSTRALIA; - Walters (captain) Woodfull (capPataudi _ , Sutcliffe' Ponsford Hammond Brad™ oll Hendren MCabe Ames • Chipperfield Verity Darling Leyland Mitchell , Oldfield Fames Grimmett €r6Bry *• flili Nichols ‘(twelfth O’Reilly man) ' Bromley (twelfth 1 man) The weather was fine and warm at the start, with a .light breeze. Play began on a well-grassed glossy wicket. The outfield has been extensively roped off to accommodate, more spectators. Consequently 4’s will be easy. ' Wyatt left his decision not to play until the last mo- " ment. Walters is thus captaining England in his first test match against Australia. . _■ Jardine occupied a front-row seat in the Press box. England decided to include only one fast bowler, and Australia, apparently playing for safety, reduced its , ,attack to the three ■ regular bowlers and gave Brown his first test experience. The crowd of 12,000 gave Woodfull and Ponsford a decorous reception on their going tov the wicket. • Fames and Geary were the early bowlers, the former employing a fair pace. The batspien were extremely careful, Woodfull allowing-many balls to go by. Ponsford meanwhile was doing most of the scoring. During one of Famos’s overs one ball went over Woodfull’s head, and the next struck his hip. Both batsmen, however, seemed comfortable. By\the time the score had reached 40 Ponsford had hit five 4's. f _ Hammond bowled several maidens, and Mitchell and Verity- were.' then tried. Ponsford opened his shoulders and continued 1 to gather runs, 13 coming from one over, by Mitchell; but Woodfull was painfully slow! The first half-hour produced only 21 runs. Ponsford had, a narrow escape in Hammond’s' third over,, Hendren at backward point, letting a high, _ difficult Chance through, his fingers. , Fifty runs appeared after 65 minutes. . Ponsford , batted beautifully in the first hour and hit seven-4’a out of a total of 75. . t Fames returned at 77. His first ball was very fast and kept fairly low. Tonaford. snicked it _ and was nicely caught behind the wicket. He batted for 90 minutes and was admirable against the spin howlers, but less happy against the fast stuff. Woodfull was just beginning to settle down when at 26 he was caught in the gully by Verity. Brown and Bradman carried on until lunch. The latter was immediately aggressive. Bradman apparently had no intention of “ playing safe,” and cracked both Fames and Mitchell to the fence. Fames bowled splendidly before lunch. Rain at 2.25 stopped play for quarter of an hour.

Bradman drove Geary for two. successive 4’s, while Brown was playing confidently. Bradman was out in a peculiar manner. ,He attempted to. drive Geary, land played the ball on to. his pads. It flew straight up, and was caught by Hammond in the slips. Bradman had batted for thirty minutes. He hit six 4’s. It was a patchy innings, and his timing was inconsistent. The total was then three for 125. M’Cabe joined Brown. The latter was several times beaten by Fames. At 146 Geary secured his second wicket, when Brown attempted to drive a straight ball, and walked right in front. He haa batted eighty-five minutes and had given a sound, but timid, display. > Darling began shakily, a iluky 4 from Verity raising 150 in 185 minutes. Geary had bowled unchanged for over an hour since lunch. He had i;ppt a splendid length, but it was Verity who placed Australia in an awkward position by clean bowling Darling. The batsman was completely beaten by a ball which came quickly from the pitch. The. total was then five for 153.

Australia was now struggling tor runs against accurate length bowling. M'Cabe took an hour to make 18, the circumstances justifying his caution He then became more aggressive, while Chipperlield was also playing his natural game. M'Cabe hooked two successive rising balls from Fames to the boundary, then pulling Mitchell to the fence, which raised 200 in 235 minutes. M'Cabe reached 50 in the last over before tea, made in ninety-five minutes. llain fell during the adjournment, but play was resumed after fifty-five minutes’ delay. The light was poor. Fames took a new ball in the middle of an over, and then an appeal against the light was upheld. The innings’ time was thus far 250 minutes, and the bowlers’ records: Geary, two for -13; Fames, two for 48 The attendance was 15,000. Details:— ' AUSTRALIA. FIRST INNINGS. Woodfull c. Verity b Fames ... 26 Ponsford c Amed b Fames 53 Brown Ibw b Geary ... ... -2 Bradman c Hammond b Geary ... 29 M'Cabe not out ... 50 Darling b Verity ... 4 Chipperlield not out 17 Extras • •• ° Total for five wickets 207 FALL OF WICKETS. One for 77, Two for 88. Three for 125. - Four for 145. j Five for 153. BATTING TOO TIMID PRESS COMMENT Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, June 8. (Received June 9, at noon.) The Australian Press Association, commenting on the test, says: ‘‘England undoubtedly had the better of the day, but there were no master touches about either the bowling or the fielding while; apart from Bradman, there was too much .timidity about the Australian batting. But Ponsford must ha given great credit for his splendid foundation itinings. No sight boards -made it very hard for the batsmen to see the ball in the bad light against the background of spectators. Fames made ' a highly creditable first test appearance. He bowled a good length and bumped the ball sufficiently to worry the batsmen. The match is far from lost despite Australia’s bad start.” Jardine, in the * Evening 'Standard,’ congratulates the Nottingham crowd on their good behaviour.- He says: “ Winning the toss is worth 100 runs to Australia. I expect the wicket will help the slow bowlesr on the fourth clay.” FARMER IMPRESSES THE CRITICS HAILED AS A GREAT BOWLER. LONDON, June 8. (Received June 9, at 1 p.m.) The English’ papers consider that Fames exceeded the highest expectations, and hail him as a great bowler. The papers say that he will be even more dangerous at Lord’s. BEFORE THE GAME LONDON, Juno 8. Although thousands were awaiting the Australians’ arrival at Nottingham there was no sign of the hostile demonstration with which it was alleged the team would be received as a reprisal against Australian criticism of Larwood. With the exception of Oldfield, who is quite fit but has been advised to rest as much as possible, all the Australians are in good fettle, and are confident with regard to their chances in the first test. The wicket is in splendid order. The octogenarian groundsman says that, irrespective of rain, the wicket will last four days. He expects the wicket to bo fast, and says that it is unlikely to assist the spin bowlers. The adjoining wicket quickly crumbled iu a recent match, but special care has been taken of the test wicket, which is rarely used.