CRICKET.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 December 1920, Page 4

CRICKET.

FIRST TEST MATCH

COLUMNS MAKES CENTURY.

** AUSTRALIAN & V.Z. CARLE ASSOCIATION]

SYDNEY, December -0. , Play in the 'first Test match was 5 continued to-day in fine weather. The •, wicket was still sound. , 1 ' ’Collips and Bardsjey imparted a sen- , pus noto 'into the jphiy, as so markedly fjj. evidence "in the first innings Douglas took a hand’with the ball, ho making the fifjh IwyH tricd > !,ut > °"‘ jng' to the changes, he possessed little , ejemeiit of for the batsmen, who were determined to play cautiously, anil to pick any loose ones. The spectators disregarded the necessity for careful totting, and pined- for ' a bright mid enterprising display, but in vain. I When in tlje forties, Collins pulled ! Parkin low to square-leg. Heatrno ' got his" right hand on to it, but was unable to hold it. | Shortly after, Bardsley placed Hearne in front of cover point, and then ran oiit- arid endeavoured to return when Hol ? r>s looked dangerously near it. Bardsley, however, slipped in turning hack; but Hobbs overran the ball, thus enabling the batsman to .'regain Ins crease. The let-off was not of much benefit as Bardsley then opened out, and Hearne clean fowled him. Macartney followed and he was satisfied to proceed slowly. Yet ho was responsible , for several fine shots which , were rendered unproductive as the result of fine fielding. | Collins several times , took the strike away from Macartney with a single off the last ball of the over, but only to pat the hall hack to the bowler. At intermittent periods he momentarily sparkled, hut he quickly lapsed again to steady play. . ' ■ ’ With a total of 179, Douglas tried Rhodes, who was thus the seventh bowler put on. His secopd hall almost brought about tj;e dqwijfaH of Macartney, who jumped opt of his crea'se to'meet the ball, but missed. So, however, did Strndwick',. wifh the batsman a /yard outside his crease.

Undeterred by this, Macartney continued stepping down the pitch and executed several brilliant late' cuts to the off and .also leg drives to the boundary. Other hits, equally brilliant, were neutralised J>y fine work in the field, particularly tjiat by Hen-

dren. Collins, after a lengthy spell in the nineties reached his century with a single to the square-leg off Waddington. He took three and a. half hours to compile the 100. His last ten were made while Macartney was moving from 18 to 56.

In the next over, however, Collins lifted Douglas to outside m id-011, where Waddington accepted an easy catch. Douglas, in the next over, got Macartney as the latter was endeavouring to make a late cut, Macartney pulling the hall on to his wicket.- His score was 69, arid it included nine boundaries. Macartney was dismissed in a precisely similar way in the first in-

nings. Taylor followed Macartney, and lie rapidly rattled up double figures. <A. few minutes later lie poked one from Douglas over Russell’s head at second slip; the fieldsman being only able to touch the ball with the tips of his fingers. For this stroke, the. batsman ran a single. Douglas tliien varied the howling making frequent changes. The three left handers—Woolley, Waddington, and Rhodes—were being treated with most respect by the batsmen. Keliaway, as usual, played “rook”. When four, he returned a very hot one to -Hearne, who stopped it, but was unable to hold it.

The crowd soon bjarrackied Kellawny‘s stonewall tactics, and an appeal for “leg before” was eagerly answered by a section of the crowd by “Out! Out I”

Taylor played stylish .pricket, batting all round the wicket. He was finally caught by Woolley, after he had passed his fiftieth run.

The attendance was 25,000. AUSTRALIA—Ist INNINGS. McCartney, b Waddington 19 Collins, run out 70 Bardsjey, ,e Strudwick, h Hearne ... 22 Kellaway, run out 33 Armstrong, st Strudwick, b Woolley 12 Gregory, c Strudwick, b Woolley ' 8 Taylor, L.b.w., b Hearne 24 Pellew, c Hendren, b Hearne 30 Ryder, run out 5 oidfield, c. Hobbs, b. Parkin 7 Mailey, (not out) 10 Sundries II Total. 267 ENGLAND—Ist INNINGS. Russell, b. Kellaway 0 Hobbs, b. Gregory 49 Hearne, e. Gregory, ,b. Mailey ... 14 Hendren, c. Gregory, b. Ryder ... 21 Woolley, c. Mailey, b. Ryder ... 52 Douglas, s. Oldfield, b. Mailey ... 21 Rhodes, e. b. Mailey ... 3 Hitch, c. ekllaway ,I>. Gregory ... 3 Waddington (runt out) i Parkin (not out) 4 Strudwick, l.b.w. b. Gregory ...... 2 Sundries 7

Total '••• 190 AUSTRALIA—2nd INNINGS. Collins, c. Waddington, b Douglas 104 Bsirdsley, b. Hearne Macartney, b. Douglas 09 Taylor e. Woolley, b Parkin ... 51 Pellew 1.b.w., b. Woolley 16 Kellaway (not out) 23 Sundries 12 Total (for 5 wickets) 332 England up to the present stage will need to make 410 in the second innings to win. BRITISH CRITICS. (Received This Day at 9.45 a.m.) LONDON, December 19. The critics are profoundly disappointed at England’s hatting and fail to see the symptoms of supposed decadence in tlie Australian bowling. On the contrary it is fully equal to the pre-war standard Tlic “Times’- 1 says the Englishmen had their chance, but failed rather dismally!. The Australians achieved a startling performance their howling being extremely good.