AUSTRALIA V. INDIA DECEMBER 29, 2018 BOXING DAY TEST FACT SHEET - DAY 4 The MCC library fact sheets for each day of this Test match highlight outstanding individual performances that determined the course and result in Test matches at the MCG between Australia and India, as well as in the context of their impact on the series. Each will also include a brief account of the respective player’s career. Today's sheet reviews the Third Test of the 1947/48 series and profiles Vinoo Mankad. The 1947/48 tour The tour represented a notable landmark for the visitors as it was the first series played by India since it achieved independence from Britain in August 1947, as well as the first time it took part in Tests against a country other than England and the first time it participated in a five-Test series. Two of the Tests, the Third and Fifth, were played at the MCG, the only occasion that an Indian tour of Australia has included more than one Test at the ground. KANWAR RAI SINGH A hard-hitting right-hander, Kanwar Rai Singh was one of four late inclusions in the team to Australia, after the withdrawals of Vijay Merchant (the nominated captain), Rusi Modi, Syed Mushtaq Ali and Fazal Mahmood, the latter now a citizen of Pakistan following the partition of the Punjab in northern India. Fazal later became the mainstay of the Pakistan attack throughout the 1950s. The choice of Rai Singh surprised many in India, at least one critic suggesting a political element because of “his Patiala connections”. In March 1947, Rai Singh had recorded a career-best 158 for the Maharaja of Patiala’s XI against Vijay Merchant’s XI, but it should be noted that he also had two earlier Ranji Trophy centuries to his credit, for Southern Punjab in 1945/46. Whatever the reasons behind his selection, he received few opportunities on tour to press for Test selection, appearing in all six minor fixtures but only four of the 14 first-class games. Nevertheless, he was one of the more popular members of the tour party because of the variety of coloured turbans he wore in the field. He owed his inclusion for the Third Test to a determined 71 in one of those minor games, against a Southern Districts XI at Canberra a few days before. After the tour, Rai Singh subsequently played no more than a few first-class matches a season until 1951/52 and then spasmodically until 1956/57. Four years later, he returned to the first-class arena and made four appearances for Services in the Ranji Trophy, with moderate success. Over a 20-year first-class career-span, he played only 38 matches, scoring 1778 runs at 30.13, with four hundreds. THIRD TEST MATCH, January 1-5, 1948. India entered this match having lost the opening Test in Brisbane by an innings and 226 runs, when unluckily caught on a traditional Australian ‘sticky’ and dismissed for totals of 58 and 98. There was insufficient time to produce a result at Sydney in the second, after rain had cut short the first day and completely washed out the third and fourth. Both teams made changes to their final elevens for this match, Australia bringing in Sid Barnes and Bruce Dooland for Colin McCool (death of his mother) and Bill Brown, while India substituted Kanwar Rai Singh, Khandu Rangnekar and Probir Sen for Gogumal Kishenchand (tonsillitis) Amir Elahi and Jamshed Irani. The match began in cloudy but otherwise fine conditions and Don Bradman had no hesitation in electing to bat after winning the toss. Openers Barnes and Arthur Morris began steadily until the former played over a full length ball from Vinoo Mankad in the left-arm spinner’s first over. Morris (42) and Bradman (37) saw Australia through to lunch at 1/91, but Morris was bowled soon after the adjournment without offering a shot to a ball from skipper Lala Amarnath, which moved back in. Lindsay Hassett (80 in 119 minutes from 148 balls, nine fours) then matched his captain stroke for stroke in a superb display that extended beyond the tea break and produced 169 runs for the third wicket in only 119 minutes. His dismissal, plus that of Bradman (132 in 197 minutes from 204 balls, eight fours) 12 runs later, saw India claw its way back into the game. Keith Miller struck three sixes in a 22-minute cameo knock of 29 before Amarnath captured 3/25 in a six-over spell late in the day, leaving Australia at 8/355, with Dooland and Ian Johnson both not out on 2. Australia was all out within the first hour next day and India rattled on 38 without loss in 32 minutes before lunch – Mankad 17, Chandu Sarwate 14. The pair continued to bat brightly after the resumption, increasing their partnership to 124 in 90 minutes before Sarwate was caught at the wicket for 30. Gul Mahomed was brilliantly caught and bowled one- handed by a diving Dooland soon after. Mankad (116 in 182 minutes from 187 balls, 13 fours) batted superbly until handicapped by cramp in the final stages and needing a runner. Barnes removed Vijay Hazare and Amarnath with successive deliveries and the advent of the new ball accounted for Mankad two runs later. Hemu Adhikari was dismissed three minutes before stumps, which were drawn at 6/262, with Dattu Phadkar on 42 and Rai Singh 2. Overnight rain softened the uncovered pitch and Amarnath declared 103 runs behind 20 minutes before lunch, in an attempt to capitalise on the drying wicket. The Australian captain countered by sending in his tailenders to buy some time while the wicket dried. Ian Johnson left in the second over and at lunch the home side was 1/11, Dooland 6 and Bill Johnston 3. Both were dismissed within the first 10 minutes after the adjournment, followed by Barnes 25 minutes later. Although four wickets had fallen for 32, the hour of occupation to that point had allowed the pitch to recover. Morris (100 not out in 197 minutes from 210 balls, seven fours) and Bradman (127 not out in 178 minutes from 169 balls, 13 fours) took full advantage of the improved conditions to add an unfinished 233 in 178 minutes before the end of the day. It was the first and only time in a glittering Test career that Bradman had made a century in each innings. Rain for the second night running damaged the pitch, although not quite enough to delay the start of play. Bradman closed the Australian innings at the overnight score and India once again was forced to bat in difficult conditions. Sarwate was bowled in the fourth over and wickets continued to fall at regular intervals. Gul Mahomed hung on for 53 minutes, striking four fours in a gesture of defiance, but India had slumped to 6/84 by lunch, with Phadkar and Rai Singh both not out on 10. The latter lofted Ian Johnson straight down the ground for six on the resumption of play and Rangnekar struck Bill Johnston for three successive boundaries, but the Australians needed only half an hour after the break to wrap up the game. Although favoured by fine weather in the two remaining Tests, the tourists never threatened Australia’s dominance, losing both by an innings to end the series 0-4. Their bowlers were heavily punished but there were signs of improvement in the batting. At Adelaide, all-rounder Phadkar made a hundred, while Hazare reached three figures in each innings and Mankad demonstrated his liking for the MCG in the final Test with a second century there. Catalogue: Log in to the MCG Free WiFi to view the library’s database of collection holdings, available online through the cloud hosted Liberty Library Management System. Search at tinyurl.com/ mcclcatalogue and through the MCC Library webpage at tinyurl.com/melbccl Social Media: You can find us posting as @MelbCCLibrary on Instagram and Twitter. If you comment or are going to post about us please ensure your posts include @MelbCCLibrary, #MelbCCLibrary and #MCG VINOO MANKAD Known as Vinoo from his schooldays, Mulvantrai Himatlal Mankad was one of the finest players of his, or indeed, any other era, capable of dictating or changing the course of a match with either bat or ball. He was the first to take 100 Test wickets for India and the second after Vijay Hazare to reach 1000 Test runs. No other player achieved the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in fewer Tests than his 23 until Ian Botham lowered the figure to 21 some 27 years later. Mankad also has the distinction of scoring the first Test hundred for India in Australia. A right-hand batsman whose sound technique and measured strokeplay enabled him to fill any position in the order from numbers one to six, he delivered his left-arm orthodox spin generally from around the wicket with a distinct round-arm action, drifting the occasional ball in from the off and all the time cleverly varying his pace and flight. He was also an excellent close catcher. Mankad first attracted attention outside India when, as a 21-year-old, he headed both the batting and bowling averages in the unofficial Test series against Lord Tennyson’s English touring side in 1937/38, with 376 runs at 62.66, including a century, and 15 wickets at 14.53. However, there was no further opportunity for his advancement before the Second World War because of India’s lack of international exposure at that time.