A match report from The Cricketer of the 4th Test at Brisbane
23-Oct-2007England 356 and 162 for 4 beat Australia 340 and 175 by six wickets
Scorecard1st day
Eddie Paynter hits out after leaving his hospital bed to bat © The Cricketer
England made one change from the side successful at Adelaide, Mitchell taking the place of Voce, who was not considered fit enough to stand the strain of the match. Australia had Love in place of Oldfield, who was forbidden to play by his medical advisers, and also brought in two young left-handed batsmen, Darling and Bromley, in place of Grimmett and Fingleton. Bromley had the distinction of being chosen largely for his batting, although he had not made a century in first-class cricket during his very brief career.For the third time in four matches Woodfull beat Jardine in the toss, and the Englishmen went out to field in sweltering heat. Woodfull decided to open the innings with Richardson, who, of course, goes in first for South Australia, and for the first time during the series Australia made a really good start, the first wicket not falling until 133. The wicket appeared to be perfect when Larwood and Allen opened the bowling for England. The wind changed shortly after play began, and Jardine immediately put Larwood on at Allen’s end. When his score was at 10 Richardson might possibly have been caught by Jardine in the gully, and at the beginning of his innings he was, perhaps, a little lucky, but he, nevertheless, played very fine cricket for his side until he was most brilliantly stumped by Ames off an off break from Hammond.Jardine made numerous bowling changes, and continually altered his field. With Bradman in, he put Larwood on and set a leg field, and the batsman was undoubtedly uncomfortable. but he managed to survive, and at tea Australia were strongly placed with 153 for 1, Woodfull being 55 not out. The Australian captain was eventually bowled by a well pitched-up ball by Mitchell. Bradman in the meantime had found his form, some of his driving being magnificent, and when stumps were drawn his score stood at 71. McCabe, out to a great catch in the gully, never really settled down, but Ponsford managed to play out time with 8 not out, the total being 251 for 3.Despite the terrific heat, the English bowlers worked wonderfully well, a notable feature of the attack being Verity’s immaculate length. Both Verity and Mitchell bowled without a slip.2nd day
England fought back in great style, and on this day Australia lost much of their initial advantage. Larwood began with his leg theory, and by clean howling Bradman and Ponsford in one over put his side in a much better position. Bradman, who hit eleven 4’s, was out trying to cut a ball on the leg stump, while Ponsford went too far over and made no attempt to play the ball which hit his leg stump. After the dismissal of these two batsmen the Australia innings was soon over. Darling and Bromley, if rather fortunate, made a few good strokes, and ran very well between the wickets.The English bowlers accomplished magnificent work to pull the game round so well, and a special word of praise must be given to Ames for his superb wicketkeeping. As Paynter was suffering from a slight attack of tonsilitis, F. R. Brown fielded as substitute. Jardine and Sutcliffe opened for England, and never appeared to be in the slightest difficulty with the howling. O’Reilly concentrated in the leg stump with three short legs and a man deep. This made the scoring slow as his length was perfect. There were confident appeals against Sutcliffe for lbw when he was 42, and for a catch at the wicket when he had reached 51. Bad light stopped play eight minutes from the close, when England had made 99 for no wicket, Sutcliffe not out 51, Jardine not out 41.The attendance of 29,572 was a record for Brisbane. The crowd behaved extremely well, and paid generous tribute to Larwood’s fine bowling.3rd day
So far from consolidating their position England had to fight extremely hard for runs and when stumps were drawn with eight wickets down for 271, Paynter not out 24, and Verity not out, they had distinctly the worst of the position. Jardine and Sutcliffe continued batting with extreme care against accurate bowling and 15 runs had been added when Jardine was caught off a slow ball on the leg side by the wicket-keeper. There appeared to be some doubt as to whether Jardine had touched the ball. Sutcliffe, now joined by Hammond, was not sure against O’Reilly, but at lunch England were well placed with Sutcliffe not out 84 and Hammond not out 14.Some very fine bowling by O’Reilly kept the batsmen very quiet all the afternoon and the England wickets fell at regular intervals, the batsmen failing directly they tried to force the pace. When the sixth wicket fell at 216, Paynter, to the surprise of everybody, came out to bat. He had come straight from hospital where he had been sent owing to an attack of tonsilitis and would certainly not have batted if England had not been in such a grave position. His pluck made him a great favourite with the crowd, who cheered him to the echo. Larwood made some beautiful strokes, including a six off Ironmonger before being yorked, and then Verity came in to play out time with Paynter.4th day
By adding 92 for the ninth wicket Paynter and Verity did much to recover the ground England had last on the third day, and no praise is too high for the way these two pulled the game round. Paynter was very solid, waiting for the ball outside his leg stump before he hit. Rightly letting Paynter get the runs, Verity put up a magnificent defence even if he was a little lucky, Love missing catching him on the leg side, while later a misunderstanding between Ponsford and Bromley resulted in a catch being missed. Paynter was eventually out trying to drive Ironmonger. He had batted for nearly four hours and had hit ten boundaries – a marvellous innings for a sick man, who had to bat in a suffocating temperature.Paynter pluckily fielded when Australia opened their second innings. Jardine made many changes in his attack, using his fast bowlers in short bursts, but Richardson was looking very dangerous when he was finely caught by Jardine. Bradman began well, and hit Larwood for 10 in an over, but the Notts man obtained his revenge, Mitchell taking a very good catch at deep point. Ponsford fell to an even more remarkable catch by Larwood, who flung himself sideways and caught the ball with his left hand. Woodfull batted for 90 minutes before being caught in the slips. At the drawing of stumps McCabe was not out 14, Darling not out 8, and the total 108 for 4.5th day
It was still terrifically hot when play was resumed. Paynter was well enough to field when Jardine opened the attack with Hammond and Larwood. When the effects of the roller had worn off Jardine brought on Verity and the Yorkshireman clean bowled McCabe with a shorter ball which he tried to pull. This brought the two young left-handers, Darling and Bromley, together, and both played with great care before the latter fell to a catch at first slip. Darling was unfortunately run out after showing fine form for an hour and fifty minutes. After lunch Australia lost their last three wickets in 10 minutes.Requiring 160 runs for victory, England lost Sutcliffe in Wall’s second over. He had been previously missed by McCabe at slip off O’Reilly. Leyland was next man in and though avoiding all risks punished Ironmonger for 10 in one over. Jardine concentrated entirely on defence and at one point was in 83 minutes without making a run. The second wicket had put on 73 invaluable runs when Jardine was lbw after batting two hours and twelve minutes. With Hammond as his partner Leyland continued to bat extremely well and when bad light had stopped play England’s score stood at 107 for 2, Leyland not out 66 and Hammond not out 8.7th day
Rain had fallen during the night but the wicket did not appear to be affected. The players all wore black armlets as a mark of respect for the late Archie Jackson. Both batsmen were on the defensive against accurate bowling by O’Reilly and Ironmonger, and the score had only been taken to 118 when Hammond was caught at cover in trying to drive Ironmonger. Just when it looked as if Leyland would remain to the end he edged a ball into the slips. Playing a grand innings for his side he was in for three hours and 42 minutes and hit nine fours and one five. Paynter came in and made the winning hit by hooking McCabe for six.At the Queensland Cricket Association’s final reception to both teams Warner expressed the MCC’s grief at the death of Jackson, who, he said, would have been another Victor Trumper.”If we are happy like Sunshine Susie at our victory it is only natural,” he added. Warner paid a tribute to Australia’s magnificent bowling, especially that of O’Reilly. ” O’Reilly was so good,” said Warner, ” that when Leyland was out I left the ground. I could not bear to see the end of the match. I heard that the score was 144 for 4 on the wireless, so I returned.” Warner proposed the Australians’ health, and the MCC players cheered.Woodfull, the Australian captain, congratulated the English team, but hoped that in 1934 the Australians would repeat their 1930 preformance, when they won the Ashes. “Our defeat will only spur us on to do a little better next time,” he said. The Australian team drank the health of the MCC players in champagne, and gave them three hearty cheers.Jardine said : “I am naturally delighted that we have regained the Ashes, but hope I can say with Kipling that cricketers can meet triumph and disaster and treat the imposters in just the same way.”