CRICKET.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 June 1926, Page 1

CRICKET.

' FIRST TEST. RAIN STOPS PLAY. [Australian & N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, June 12. The first test match between England and .Australia began this afternoon.

There was heavy rain overnight. The morning dawned fine, but later on there was a slight drizzle. The wicket was covered overnight, hut the outfield was soft. Tho crowd began to assemble a couple of hours before tlie advertised time to start, and the ground filled rapidly as trains and charabancs arrived from all parts ot the country. THE TEAMS. The Australian team is: Andrews, Bardsley, Collins, Gregory, Alacartuey, Alailey, Oldfield, Richardson, Ryder, Taylor - and Woodful, with Grimmett as twelfth man.

The English team is: Carr, Chapman, Hobbs, Strudwick, Woolley, Hendren, Hearne, Kilner, Tate, Root and Sutcliffe.

England won the. toss. Carr decided to bat. At 11.20 a.m. a heavy shower fell, which delayed the start. A start was eventually made at 12.12 p.m. on an easy wicket. A copious use of sawdust was immediately necessary. Hobbs took the first over from Gregory, and he opened tlie score with a single to leg, Sutcliffe following with a single ; through the slips off the same bowler. j Gregory was kicking badly, but lie dev- j eloped better pace than he has yet' , shown. Alacartuey had a perfect ; length, and he had Sutcliffe guessing j in the second over. The first boundary i came from Hobbs off a no-ball from: i .Macartney. I

When the score was seventeen, arisky single off Gregory saw Hobbs , nearly run out by a smart return from ! Richardson, the batsmen dodging each j other on the run. |

Hobbs was careful, and characteristically attractive, and he placed the bowling superbly. He cut well, and: made some powerful leg strokes. Sutcliffe was more sedate and more orthodox in his strokes. The fielding was clean and the picking up smart, Taylor, Andrews and Bardsley being prominent.

After forty-seven minutes’ play, a heavy-—almost a tropical—shower compelled an adjournment. Tlie rain continued till 2.30 p.m.

Frequent inspections of the wicket were mado during the afternoon by the captains, Carr and Collins, but at 5.30 p.m. it was decided that play must be abandoned for the day. The attendance was ten thousand. The scores

were : ENGLAND—First Innings. Hobbs (not out) 19 Sutcliffe (not out) 13 Extras 0 Total for no wickets 32 LONDON. June 12. The crowd at Nottingham waited patiently-while an inspection of the wicket was made. Ten thousand people were present when Carr and Collins made their final visit to the pitch. They appeared to be unable to agree and decided to call out the umpires, whoso decision was that no further play was possible. Tho position had resolved itself into a contest between the two captains, in which Collins won th© day. Half an hour’s play on the soft wieekt would have been invaluable to England. On the contrary, Collins, with his depleted team, could not afford to take the risks that were likely to accrue from the slippery ground. During the closing consultation of the captains, the spectators vociferously demanded that they continue the play. One wag shouted: “Send for Armstrong!” However, the crowd accepted the final decision with tho utmost good humour. The attendance was over twenty thousand.

Bosanquet, the former English rep. writing in the “Dispatch,” says:— “ Everything was going our way, when down conics n thunderstorm. Jt was fine to see Hobbs and Sutcliffe opening with all their old confidence and mastery. The played the howling with ease and confidence. Tho difficult wicket is now our only available chance of victory, with the limited time for the matches.” LONDON, June 12. A curious editorial in the Labour “Daily Herald” imagines the historian of the future writing “at a. crisis in tho national industry when two and a-half million of the people were unemployed. and yet the (thief interest of the population of England, according to most of the newspapers of the period was a cricket match. The merits of the players representing England and Australia were everywhere discussed, and the most elaborate arrangements were made for reporting the match. Every other topic was overlooked. Anyone would- suppose that the nation was never more prosperous or more untroubled.” The editorial proceeds; “Tt is no use to lament the effect that the test match should so captivate the public imagination. When wo have to do is train.up a generation that would not bo prevented by the pleasant things, like cricket, from attending to the things that really do matter.”

ENGLISH COUNTY A LATCHES. LONDON, June 12. Rain interfered generally with the County matches yesterday. Lancashire in their first innings against Afiddlesex scored 222 for seven wickets. Afakepencc made 85, and E. Tyldlesley 50. The match was abandoned. . Cambridge .against Notts, in the first innings nr de 106. Larwood took 4 for 2. including the hat trick. Notts in the first innings made 265. Payton scored 80 and Turner 81. Irvine took 6 for 90. Tlie match was abandoned. Against Hampshire, Somerset in the first innings made 23-1. Young made 62. Kennedy took 6 for 87. In the second, Somerset scored 34 for 2. Hampshire in the first made 347, Alead scoring 161. White took 6 for 100. The match was abandoned. Playing for Yorkshire against Glamorgan. Alacauley took in the first innings 6 for 29. and in the second 6 for 42. Yorkshire won. Playing for Sussex against Gloucester, Cox took 6 for 45. Tlie match was drawn. . x Ireland, playing for Oxford, scored 221 runs in the first innings. Serrurier took 4 for 59. Oxford in the first innings made 285 for 5 wickets. The match was drawn. Playing, for Kent against Derby, Hardinge made 13-4, and Wright took ■5 for 36. The match was drawn.