THE SEE-SAW TEST OF 1925

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 16, 3 February 1937, Page 9

THE SEE-SAW TEST OF 1925

When Australia Beat England by 11 Runs GILLIGAN REMEMBERS It takes very little time to anawer the question: "Which is the most exciting match in which you have played?" Beyond doubt, the Test match played at Adelaide from January 16 to 24, 1925, beats everything else in my experience^ srays A-Tthur Gilligan, the . 1924-25 English captain, who was in. New Zealand earlier this month, en route to see his brother, Mr. F. W. Gilligan,- headmaster of Wanganui Collegiate School. Australia beat us by 11 Tune! Shall I ever forget the see-saw character of that stirring contest Its inAidents are as clear to me as though the match had been played last week. Australia won the toss, and had first inninga on a pitch which, it seemed to me, the Australians thought was more difficult than it was. We had three of them out for 22, four for 114, and six for 119. Collins was bowled by Tate, and that seemed to hearten us, everything going right for us nntil Ryder joined Andrews. Now, I am not making excuses, but the faet remains that after getting the wickets of Collins and Taylor for only 12 runs, Tate broke down. He retired at the luncheon interval, just before which one of my muscles "went," and I also had to retire. Later Freeman had to retire with a badly bruised wrist, so that England was left with Kilner and Woolley to bowl, a predicament necessitating the appearance at the bowling crea)se of "Patsy" Hendren and Whysall, who had been chosen for the tour as batsmanwicketkeeper. The mishaps on our side do not detract from the great batting of Jack Ryder, 201 not out, T. J. E. Andrews 72, W. A. Oldfield 47, and A. A. Mailey 27. Australia 's last four wickets added 370 xunsl That, in itself, was exciting enough. Our first lnnings beg&n late on the Saturday evening. I altered my or* der, Whysall and Tate opening, and Strudwiek following. (Bradman opened with O'Reilly, Fleetwood-Smith,k and Ward in the isecond innings at Melbourne this New Year.) The plan did not really fail, nor did it succeed, for we lost Whysall and Strudwi'ck for 39 that evening. Monday was very hot. A. P. F. Chapman and Tate wero soon out, and Hobbs and Sutcliffe got together at four for 69. They took the score to 159. Woolley was out at 180 for six. Then the ever-willing "Patsy"' partnered Hobbs while 147 runs were added, and with 297 for six on the board we began to smile again. Gregory brought offi a great slip catch and Hobbs was out for 119, his ninth Test match century. "Patsy" missed his hundred by eight, and we were 124 in arrears when; Australia went in again to dig herself in by making 211 for three by close of play on the fourth day. A Big Hurdle. A deficit of 335 and our opponents with seven wickets in- hand was what we had for dinner that night! Next morning the Fates, having treated us rather harshly on the firtst two days, relented and turnod on some welcome rain. The restart of- play was delayed 45 minutes and on seeing the

pitch I guessed the Temainmg Australian wickets would make exactly 39 runs. That was just what they did make, their 211 for three being turned into 250. Ryder was 86 not out overnight, but wa's out for 88. He had very bad luck to miss two hundreds in one Test by only 12 runs. We were left with 375 to win, with the wicket likely to improve and simple time to get the runs. All went well for us until Collins made a great catch at short leg to get rid of Hobbs at 63. The game again swung strongly in Australia 's favour, for when Hobbs, Woolley and Hendren were out we had only 96 on the board. After SutclifEe was out at 155 for four on the fixth 'day of this terrific struggl® Chapman and Whysall played two glorious sitting innings. With the score board showing 244 for four the gaine had swung round again and we were winning comfortably. -

An Exciting Innings. Then Gregory intervened once more, making a grand catch to dismiss Whysall at 244 for five. Ten runs later another magnificent catch, this time by Ryder at deep point, got rid of Chapman. With four wickets in hand we wanted 121 — a very different position to that of only a quarter of an hour earlier. Tate . gogt a bright 21 ofE two ovens, then fell to a "googlie," and I went in in order to try to keep my eud up for Kilner, who was getting set. We had added 33 when the Yorkshireman was out at 312, so then 53 were wanted when Freeman came to my aid. I am afraid I cannot say how we added 45 for the ninth wicket. I only know Freeman batted very stout-heartedly. We wanted 27 to.win on the morning of the seventh day. I rejoiced to see Gregory 's first delivery go to the boundary. All byes count! Freeman cut a two, and when Mailey bowled to me we wanted 21 to win. I thought I'd got a four off the Becond ball, but Tommy Andrews, at cover, intervened, singles off the fourth, fifth and seventh balls leaving us with 18 to get when 1 faced Gregory 's second over of the morning. Mistiming his sixth delivery, I was caught at mid-off at 357 for nine. Eighteen were wanted when "Strnddy" (Surrey wicket-keeper) went in, and I can still hear the din when Freeman hit Mailey hard past cover to the ring. Strudwiek got a couple off: the last but one of Gregogry'a next over,

and then — the end. The second .ball of Mailey 's next over Freeman snicked into Oldfield 's hands and Australia had won. It was on this tour that Mailey, in the first Test, at Sydney,. which Australia won by 193 runs, had the record number of runs hit off any bowler in Test history, 308 for the game.