WICKET SODDEN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 40, 3 March 1937, Page 13

WICKET SODDEN

J. B,

HOBBS-

Balls Kick Qminously Off Turf NOW WELL BEATEN

(By

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Countries — Reproduction in Whole or Part Forbidden.) MBLBOUENE, Peb. A Rain came to shorten the final Test match, preventing England putting up & elose fight, which, I am sure, everyone will agree was the players' due after the grand effort they have made to win the ashes. Before lunch the wicket was. sodden and the ball cut throngh. It came f'ast through the air, but slowed up suddenly whpn directly pitched. It was not a patch on the demon wicket England encountered in the third Test here, 0 'Reilly did maka on» turn and pop up to cause Wyatt's dismissal, but the others got out through faulty timing, brought about chiefly by the different pace of the wicket. The storm in the night was atrocious luek, for England were far enough behind without the rain coming to Aus■tralia's assistance. They did not need dt and I will wager 99 par cent. of the [population would have preferred to Bee ithe match played out under norifi'al Weather conditions. Before describing England 's collapse jbefore lunch, I want to justify Leyland. jl aaid yesterday he got his feet tied in ;an awful knot when he was bowled, but what I could not see, owing to the poor position of the Press box, was that he •was the victim of the best bali of the ■matcA It was O'Reilly's leg break 1 which was pitched well outside the off jstump and turned enough to hit. the leg istump. Maurice made a frantic effort as a last resort to get his legs over,, That is why he appeared to get tied ia (.a knot.

After McGorioick had bowled an over: to-day, Hardstaff made a good start, driving O'Reilly's first ball for four, but when he had added 10 to the overnight score he was caught at deep xnidon when trying another drive. His timing was at f ault, wbieh was not surprising, considering tbe different pace of the wicket from yesterday. !We all f elt. he had earned a century for his was a magnificent effort. Nash's first ball was hooked by Wyatt "to deep leg for a eingle, Ames hooked him to squaTe l^f for a boundary in the same over. A Ettle later Ames got a no ball from McCormick, which went to the leg boundary. Twos and -threes came fairly frequently, but when the partnerghip reached 34 A™as was clean bowled by Nash. Attexnpting to drive he made the ball into a yorker. Had he judged it sooner he could have converted it into a fuui. -koss. | In the following o»*r Wyatt shaped to play O 'Reilly to the onside but cocked up a dolly catch to silly point. One. over later Allen, tryiug a big drive, jwas brilliantly caught high and wide by. 'Oldfield off Nash. Three wickets feli at 236 and the last two at 239, Verity being caught in the gully off Nash in what would in any case have been the •last over before lunch. O 'Reilly came.. •out with marvellous flgures — five for 51. Though he kept his usual perfect. length, he will be the first to give thanks to the wicket. Any man who can bowl length must succeed on a wet wicket in Australia. England' s Second Effort. England had to foliow on, being 365 'behind, the margin by which Australiawon the - third Test here. After lunch |it was seen that. the roller and the rest had improved the wicket, hut though it gradually got better tu nad not rocovered by tea time. The batamen had to be chary of sharp, rising bajls, one or two of which kicked ominously at the start of the second innings. These were. good length balls. Bowling short was, no good, becauso the wicket was too soft. Batsmen get juinpy in such conditions and are liable to got out to a norma! ball through being on the lookout for it to do something else. This jpeouliar wicket was a blessirig in one • way — it made the batsmen go out for istrokes, They had to chance their az-ms or. they would never have soored at all, so wa saw spectaoular batting, Hammond sent three through the. slips, the third at a catcbable height, but he also made some really gorgeous ahots on the offside. Till tea time the fast bowlers dispeusea with the deep third man and more fours accrued thau usual. Australia were so far ahead that Bradman did not mind conceding runs as long as he got wioaets. Both England ;s opening batsmen .jscored singles off McOormick's first ;over. Eacing Nash, Worfchington had a good length ball rise and cr&ck him jseverely on the forearm. He then jsteered one past ihe saps for four. In 'McOormick's third over the ball kicked sharply. This was not to Worthington's 1'iking and he tried a big hit off the next. The ball hung on the pitch too long and the batsman got too far under it, producing a skier, which was caught at silly point. It was not the easy catch it looked, but Bradman was elever enough not to get completoly under it until the last moment, else he might have bungled it. One wicket was lost for nine and one run later Hardstaff was bowled by au overpitched ball from Nash. There would be no excuse under normal eiicumstances, hit one gets nervy when the ball is doivg unexpeeted things. Hammond opwned with a streaky foui off MeOormick l etween the slips. Barnett got a nasty blow lrom a ball from Nash. He cut the uext for two and got j an overthrow. Hammond executed a £lorious leg sfcroke to sena tne next ball J

to tho aad ho oovendroVe fts nacessor for two. c On O 'Reilly replaeing McConnick, Barnett drove him to tho boundary over mid-on's head. With a lofty d?ive to the long-o®. boundary off Nash, Barnett rau into the twenties, and on Mc* Oormiok bowling for Nash, cut him over gully 's head for another four, sending up 50 in 51 minutes. Sandwiched betw.een these fours, Hammond got another boundary with a perfect late cut off O 'Reilly, Runa wars eoming freely. Barnett cut O 'Reilly for two, and off 'the following balls got a four and a six jwith beautiful shqts past extra cover [and long-off. T4ie next ball had him 5eg before to conclude an attractive knoek. After receiving a painful body blow, Hammond savagely hit McCor* mick for four past cover. The wicket had not been eonsidered fast enough for Eleetwood-Smith before tea and still seemed too alow for his particular atyle when he went on after tea, elaven comjng from his first over inciuding boundaries by each batsman. Leyland 's was to the offside and Hammond 'a a fierce hit to leg which brought his fifty, inciuding no fewer than nine fours. O 'Reilly sent a maiden to Hammond, every ball being a good one and giving trouble. In his next over Hammond was dismissed by a good length googly which juaiped sharply to hit Hammond on the right glove from whence it rebounded for an easy catch at silly mid-on, In justice ,to MeOormick he beat Hammond with a glorioue offbreak that narrowly missed the, wicket. Leyland greeted Wyatt by hit-, ting O'Reilly to the long-on boundary and Wyatt soou hooked MeetwoodSmith to the square leg rails, Australia were doing well enough.' without England presenting them withi wickets which they did now, Leyland j hit. the ball hard .to mid-off and ealled hia partner. It was a sharp run but Wyatt was slow in responding and when • Oldfield put down the wicket he was out by a yard, This probably unsettled Leyland because he retired without addition to his total, being brilliantly j caught at square leg near the umpire off! a hard hit. * Australia now had us well beaten as! I fear they would have done without j

the rain's assistance. Taking advan-i tage of the luck that came their way| they prevented our men making any! sort of a mateh of it. Anyhow the rain, saved England from a long drawn-out' game with nothing but defeat at. the end. Australia 's good cricket on the opening days gave them the chance to beat us without help from .the elements. ' The wicket improved still more after tea, but it was never the easy pace of yesterday and always in the bowler's favour. Scores: — AUSTRALIA. First Innings . . . , o04 ENGLAND. First Innings Barnett, e Oldfield, b Nash , . . . 18 Worthington, hit w£t., b FleetwoodSmith . . . . , . . . 4 , 0 1 , , 44 Hardstaff, e MeOormick, b O'Reilly 83 Hammond, e Nash, b O 'Reilly . ,. . 14 Leyland, b .O'Reilly 7 Wyatt, c Bradman, b O'Reilly , , 38 Ames, b Nash 19 Allen, c Oldfield, b Nash .. .. .. 0 Verity, c Rigg, b Nash 0 Voee, std Oldfield, b O'Reilly . . a Farnes, not out 0 Extras 13

Total . . ...... . . .. .. r. , 239 Bowling Analysis. O. M.. B. W. MeOormick . ... 18 1 54 $ Nash .. ., 17.5 1 70 5 } O'Reilly .. .. 23 7 S1 5 i Pleetwood-Smith 18 ' 3 51 1 : ENGLAND. j Second Innings. ! Barnett, lbw, b O'Reilly ....... 1 Worthington, c Bradman, b MeOormick.... s Hardstaff, b Nash 1 Hammond, e Bradman, b O'Reilly 56 Leyland, e McCormfck, b Fleet-wood-Smith 28| Wyatt, run- out .. 91 Ames, e McCabe, b MeOormick 11 Allen, c Nash, b O 'Reilly ..... ..... 7 Verity, not out ,. ,... .. .. ..., 2 Voce, npt out l Estras 3 Total eight for . , . . .... 165 Bowling Analysis. O. M. R, W. MeOormick ... 9 0 33 2 Nash .. ... ... 7 1 34 1 O'Reilly .... 19 6 58 3 McCabe .... 1 0 1 0 Fleetwood-Smith 13 3 36 1 j