Coronis
International Coach
Some excerpts from fred’s great article on Sutcliffe.. (referring to the final test of the 1926 Ashes and the third test of the 28/29 Ashes)
That night it rained heavily in London, but the sun broke out in time for play to resume at 11am. There were real fears that the game would, to all intents and purposes, be lost by lunchtime. In the event England were 161-0. Hobbs went for exactly 100 soon after lunch but it was the last act of the final session before Sutcliffe went for 161, with England on 375-6.
Next day England’s tail added another 61 to leave Australia a distant target of 415. They got nowhere near it, capitulating for just 125. Larwood and Rhodes took seven wickets between them, including the first six to fall, to add to the five they took in the first innings. But it was not their bowling that was the key factor in England at last winning back the Ashes, nor Chapman’s captaincy. England won as a consequence of the way in which Sutcliffe and Hobbs batted on the third day.
England were 2-0 up and the fifth day of this timeless Test ended with Australia on 347-8 in their second innings, giving them a lead of 327. Overnight there was rain and the sides were left with, when play started late the next morning, a wicket that Bradman considered the worst sticky he had ever seen. Australia’s last two wickets added just four, so England’s target was 332. No one on the ground gave them a chance, but Hobbs and Sutcliffe opened up with 105 before Hobbs was out. Douglas Jardine stayed with Sutcliffe to the closure at 175-1, out of which Sutcliffe had 83. By the time he was dismissed next day England were just 14 runs short and went on to win by three wickets to retain the Ashes. Again Sutcliffe was praised by all and sundry, but his favourite comment might well have been that of Bradman, who in his 1950 autobiography, Farewell to Cricket, wrote Even now I think Sutcliffe’s exhibition that day was the nearest approach to mastery on a sticky wicket I saw throughout my career ….. his uncanny ability to let the ball go when it jumped or turned was simply amazing.
That night it rained heavily in London, but the sun broke out in time for play to resume at 11am. There were real fears that the game would, to all intents and purposes, be lost by lunchtime. In the event England were 161-0. Hobbs went for exactly 100 soon after lunch but it was the last act of the final session before Sutcliffe went for 161, with England on 375-6.
Next day England’s tail added another 61 to leave Australia a distant target of 415. They got nowhere near it, capitulating for just 125. Larwood and Rhodes took seven wickets between them, including the first six to fall, to add to the five they took in the first innings. But it was not their bowling that was the key factor in England at last winning back the Ashes, nor Chapman’s captaincy. England won as a consequence of the way in which Sutcliffe and Hobbs batted on the third day.
England were 2-0 up and the fifth day of this timeless Test ended with Australia on 347-8 in their second innings, giving them a lead of 327. Overnight there was rain and the sides were left with, when play started late the next morning, a wicket that Bradman considered the worst sticky he had ever seen. Australia’s last two wickets added just four, so England’s target was 332. No one on the ground gave them a chance, but Hobbs and Sutcliffe opened up with 105 before Hobbs was out. Douglas Jardine stayed with Sutcliffe to the closure at 175-1, out of which Sutcliffe had 83. By the time he was dismissed next day England were just 14 runs short and went on to win by three wickets to retain the Ashes. Again Sutcliffe was praised by all and sundry, but his favourite comment might well have been that of Bradman, who in his 1950 autobiography, Farewell to Cricket, wrote Even now I think Sutcliffe’s exhibition that day was the nearest approach to mastery on a sticky wicket I saw throughout my career ….. his uncanny ability to let the ball go when it jumped or turned was simply amazing.
