FIRST TEST.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1920, Page 5

FIRST TEST.

VICTORY FOR AUSTRALIA. ; MARGIN OF 377 RUNS. ! ENGLAND'S CAUTIOUS BATTING, j By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright, i Received Dec. 22, 9.5 p.m. l Sydney, Dec. 22. The fifth day's play in the test match commenced in hot weather, the wicket wearing excellently. All flags were at . half-mast and the Australians "were wearing black armbands in memory of Dr. Tozer (a victim of the shooting g tragedy). Hobbs and Hcarne settled down to cautious batting, declining to touch everything except loose deliveries. Mailey failed to terrify the batsmen, Hobbs lifting one over the fence to long on. Armstrong then endeavored to separate the pair, his first over being 'a maiden, The following over Hobbs scored a single off the Australian skipe per, bringing up the first century. Hobbß then stepped across the wicket to play Armstrong to the on, but the howler I sent down one of his famous straight leg-breaks, and got Hobbs leg before _■ wieket, Hendren opened his account by seoop- * ing Armstrong to square leg to the fence, but immediately slackened again. Opposing Mailey, he despatched the first ball to the boundary, but played back for the remainder of the over. J After luncheon the batsmen were t again adopting cautious methods, uhtil . Gregory broke through Hearne's defence t with a splendidly pitched ball Which took his off stump. ' Woolley hit Mailey for three fours, but in playing forward missed the ball with his foot raised from the crease, Oldfield effecting a smart bit of stump* ing-4/10/170. The advent of Douglas created interest, in view of the English skipper's discomfort. Facing Mailey, he sprang on the - last ball of the over, which was delivered outside the' leg stump, and Armstrong, standing short-fine leg a few JRrds from the stumps, brilliantly ac- ' eepted a remarkably hot eatch. Douglas was the most surprised man on flif . ground, and remained in the crease until the umpire was officially appealed to ' When given out, he pointed to the . ground, indicating a bump ball, the j crowd ridiculing the contention as Doug- - las set out for the pavilion. Rhodes forced the pace when opposed > to Mailey, hitting several boundaries in ' the first couple Of ovets. The two hundred mark was reached in 211 minutes, | Hendren later registering fifty as a re- - suit of 104 minutes' patient batting. ; On resuming after tea, Armstrong t tried Gregory and Kelleway, the latter I in his first over finding Hendreh'a middle . peg—s/50/231. • ; Rhodes, shaping confidently, executed t several fine all-round-the-wicket shots, ■ but exercised as much caution as if the ' match was hanging in the balance. Tay- ; lor, in outfield, earned applause by cutting off boundaries. His work through--1 out the match was of the highest class.' | Hitch daringly hit out to Gregory, lift- ; ing him safely to outfield for two.'When nineteen he stepped down the wicket to , Australia's fast bowler, and hit him - hard to Taylor at extra mid-on, that . player making a fine witch. Armstrong replaced Gregory with Mailey. whose first hall was a. full one. Rhodes hit it. over the howler's head, and the catch was taken by RydeY. Parkin hit Kellaway tn Macartney at extra mid-off. hut that' nsuallv 'safe fieldsman dropped the catch. Two balls later Kellaway bowled Parkin's middle peg. with England's score at 281,/ Australia thus winning by 377 runs. Following are the scores: AUSTRALIA. First Tunings :....-. -267 Second Innings 581 Grand total ...-..-..- 848 ENGLAND. First Innings 190 Second Innings.. Russell, c Oldfield, b Gregory r> Hobbs, 1.b.w., b Armstrong fin Hcarne, b Gregory 67 Hendren, h Kellaway 50 Woolley, st Oldfield," b Mailey 1(1 Douglas, c Armstrong, b Mailey .. 7 Rhodes, c Ryder, b Mailey 45 Hitch, c Taylor, b Gregory 19 Waddington, b Kellaway .*! Parkin, b Kellaway 4 Strudwick, not out 1 Extras t fi Total 281 Grand total 471 The wickets fell as follows: 1 for 5; 2 for 105; 3 for 14(1; 4 for 170; 5 for 17S; 0 for 231; 7 for 264; 8 for 271; 9 for 279; 10 for 281. Bowling analysis: Gregory, 3 for 70; Kellaway, 3 for-45; Mailey, 3 for 105; Armstrong, 1 for 21; Ryder, 0 for 24; Macartney, 0 for 7.—Aus. and N,Z. Cable Assn. PRESS COMMENTS. ' Sydney, Dec. 22. ' The Telegraph comments that the ' strength of the English bowling seems ' to lie in the fact that while not quite I good enough to produce sensational results, it is good enough to reduce run- > getting to the minimum. The paper ad. ' versely criticises the Australians' run- '_ ning between wickets. 16 estimates i that in Monday's play they lost over < 40 safe runs from this cause, but ap- 1 parcntly the tragedy of the three men run out on the first day had left its i impress. t Paying a tribute to t.he'i English field- t ing, it says that between them Hitch, i; Hendren and Hobbs must have robbed i Bardsley, whose innings is described as j the sweetest he has played for some e time, of a hundred runs.