CRICKET.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 March 1925, Page 1

CRICKET.

ACBTEALIAN iND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION, GILLIGAN’S OPINIONS. SYDNEY, March 5. Gilligan, in a further interview said that England had not done as well as expected. He had struck more great batsmen in their best form than had been anticipated. All these fellows had come off, and all the English batsmen had not. He fully expected that Woolley, llearne and Sandham would have been quite as consistent and productive as Hobbs and Sutcliffe. Had the English batsmen lived up to their reputations, their scoring was hound to have been, as high as that of the Australians. Regarding the fielding, ho said that probably no test team ever made fewer mistakes than did the Englishmen. Their returning tc, the wicket- was most remarkable. He doubted if SHrud" ivk had ever I opt wicket better than during the tour. What surprised him was their bowling which was considered the Englishmen’s weak spot, lie was prepared to find it less effective than it proved to he. Tate howled all through ns if inspired. Gilligan considered the Australian cricket crowds splendid and fair minded. They knew more about the finer points of the game than those larger industrial cities of England. Sir Samuel Horden presented Gilligan with a handsome case of stumps made from the deck planking of the sunken flagship “Australia”, as a memento of England and Australia lighting side by side in the Great War, and the long association lie tween the Motherland and Australia, on the cricket field. Gilligan promised to deposit the memento in the “Holy of Holies’’ at the Marvlebone Club. LONDON, March 5. The “Daily Telegraph” in an editorial states: “The Australians won In their stubborn hatting power. After our first- pair, there was none who could be relied upon in difficulty. Yet the team i.s composed of men who were brilliant in the counties week in and week out. We recognise a .difference between county matches and tests. Geo. Hirst never liked tests, and lie never wanted to play in them, hut it is painfully obvious that we shall not heat the. Australians, even here, without an eleven who will keep fighting from the first over to 1 lie last hall of the rubber.”

In a paragraph Colonel Trevor says: “The last test will he known in his torv as Grimmett’s march.”