The Australians' Tour.

Hastings Standard, Issue 159, 30 October 1896, Page 4

The Australians' Tour.

An excellent article on the "work of the ninth Australian Eleven appears in the Australasian. It is written by " One with them," and in addition to briefly reviewing the tour deals with each individual member of the team. We make the following extract: —The great success of the team lies in the fact that they have played together as one man, and the tine variety supplied to the bowling by having -Tones on the side. With Trumble, Giffen and M Kibbin, there has been a fine combination. No great performances have been done like those of Turner and Ferris, but instead of this being a team of two bowlers, they have had four, whilst a glance at the batting shows a marvellous advance in that direction. It is an unprecedented performance for seven men of an Australian team to exceed a thousand runs per man on the tour and shows a marked advance in that department of the game. In fact, it is generally considered that the time is not far distant when an Australian Eleven will win the rubber at home. This opinion is held by W. G. (1 race, and many others equally competent to judge, so great has the colonial cricket collectively improved of late years. ITarry Trott. as captain, has surprised ami pleased everyone by his able generalship. Indeed, if any previous captain of an Australian team has equalled Trott, it is an admitted fact that nu one has excelled him. Many people are of opinion that the successful captain of a cricket team on tour must necessarily have, an authoritative; mien, or he will be unable to manage his team. liut Trott .succeeded rather by moral suasion than by anv show of authority. Trott's great succt si with his men was that he never presumed upon his position. In the most trying moments of a keen struggle lie was never known to upbraid a man for having made a mistake. He always sympathised with him and cheerily said, " Better luck next time." The calm imperturbatiou of the man had a corresponding influence on his men. The team soon fuund that " -hie '' was the right man in the right place, and 110 one fur a moment questioned his tactics. In the lieM lie showed his fitness under the most trying conditions by always changing his bowling without that weak-kneed policy adopted by many captains oi holding a consultation, which is always un.-atisfaetory to the bowlers. Tha- he has judiciously worked his bowling is admitted on all sides, and has oveu given satisfaction to the bowlers under him. Another great compliment to his generalship is that wbiKt calmly looking after the interests of his side, he has never had the slightest unpleasantness with any of his opponents, anil lie will leave a record name behind him in that respect. Trott often had to adapt his batting to suit the requirements of the occasion, and this was a handicap. Many times, when his side was in difficulties, his line play stood out prominently. He has judiciously used his own bowling, going on mostly as a change on good wickets, except in the first innings of England in the Manchester match, when he had (■race and Stoddart stumped early. Indeed the Middlesex amateur has frequently been '• stumped " when opposed to him. In fielding at point he has shown all his known dexterity, and was as safe as ever.

Hill, the youngest of the team, has created a great impression, his fine hard 011 strokes having caused many bowlers to wonder how to place the field to check his scoring. Though this particular hit has yielded a lot of runs, like all unorthodox strokes it has frequently been the cause of his downfall ; a ball keeping a little lower than usual or making pace from the pitch was very frequently stopped by the wicket instead of the bat. For a player of his age to exceed a thousand runs in a season is remarkable, and, if I remember rightly, has not been accomplished by any other player except W. G. Grace. Many excellent judges of the game in this country, amongst whom is Grace himself, predict a great future for Hill as a batsman, and at present regard his efforts as being far from the excellence he will yet attain. In fielding he has been quite first-class at third man, and in the long field he has done some marvellous picking up and returning, and as an out field in the team ranks next to Iredale.

Before leaving Australia few people were of opinion that Jones would prove such a great bowler as he has done ; indeed, there were many of Stoddart's team who had played against him 011 the true colonial wickets who were of opinion that he was not class enough to come to England, but how these opinions have been proved to bo wrong is now a matter of history. At the present moment Jones as a fast bowler is second only to Richardson, and his splendid efforts have been of incalculable benefit to the team. The want of really good slips of the Abel and Lohmann type has seriously handicapped his efforts. It has been the brilliant stopping and catching of those professors that made Richardson and Lockwood such great bowlers for Surrey. And what is badly wanted in Australian fielding is more attention to fielding in the slips. Fielding in all positions, and mid-off in particular, Jones has done some very brilliant work ; indeed, he can, like Syd. Gregory, claim to have deterred many batsmen from attempting a possible second run because of his repeatedly fine returns to the wicket.