England in Australia 1901-02 Five Tests

England in Australia 1901-02 Five Tests. Australia Won 4 - 1. Balls per over: 6 Playing Hours: 5 hr days (timeless) Captains: J Darling (Aus), AC MacLaren (Eng) H Trumble captained Australia in the last two Tests. Archie’s MacLaren’s team, the last privately-organised England team to play Tests in Australia, contained some fine players, although, as usual, some leading amateurs were unable to make the trip. Fortunately, MacLaren had selected, on the basis of a single net trial, an unknown medium pace (or fast-medium) bowler from the Lancashire Leagues, Sydney Barnes, who would ultimately come to be regarded as England’s greatest. England managed to lead on the first innings in four of the five Tests, but, up against an Australian team still regarded as one of the strongest ever, lost in a manner reminiscent of the previous series in 1897-98. The first Test, especially, was similar to the opener in 1897. England was never headed after a run-a-minute opening stand of 154 by MacLaren and Tom Hayward. Australia then failed twice against three bowlers who were all making their Test debuts. Barnes had made his mark at the first opportunity, and there was more joy for him and his team when MacLaren won the toss in Melbourne and bowled on a treacherous pitch. It was short-lived, however, as England was out barely halfway to Australia’s 112, Monty Noble’s 7 for 17 being the fewest runs ever conceded for so many wickets in an innings. By the end of the day, 25 wickets had fallen, 10 of them to Barnes, but Darling, by upending the second innings batting order, had his top batsmen in reserve. Under improved conditions, Clem Hill scored 99 from Number 7, and debutant Reg Duff from Sydney, initially an unpopular choice among the Melbourne crowd, became one of only three Test batmsen to make a century batting at number 10. No Australian since Duff has topped the score twice on debut; the five players from other countries to do so include Tony Greig. Warwick Armstrong assisted Duff to add 120 for the last wicket to put the match out of England’s reach. Noble finished with 13 wickets. At Adelaide, Hayward and Braund (103) had England ahead on the first innings, but a knee injury to Barnes had ended his tour and exposed a lack of depth to the bowling. After Trumble (6 for 74) held England's lead to 315, Clem Hill played his third outstanding innings in a row, 99, 98 and now 97 in 172 minutes. There were commiserations for a sequence unique in Test cricket, but Hill could be well pleased with his role in another win, secured by Darling and Trumble. Darling, who was very much a part-time cricketer at that stage of his career, returned to his farm after the match, handing the captaincy to Trumble. Then England, in spite of scoring 769 against New South Wales a week earlier, batted poorly in Sydney, apart from a good start by MacLaren and Tyldesley. Once again Australia came from behind to win well, with Jack Saunders (9 for 162 in the match) becoming yet another impressive debutant. Jim Kelly took a record eight catches. Saunders was injured for the final Test, but Australia, now clearly dominant, won even though they had the worst of the pitch. Noble and Trumble, best bowlers of the series with a total of 60 wickets, did almost 90% of the bowling, while Hill had another close encounter with a century, this time 87, to take him to 521 runs in the series without reaching the ton. There was a brief and explosive innings from the famed hitter, Gilbert Jessop, but his 35 in 21 minutes was unfortunately his best of the series, and the fans were disappointed that both he and Victor Trumper, appearing in his first Tests at home, failed to fire. The match was the last to be umpired by Charles Bannerman, scorer of that very first Test century; he had coached Trumper, and would live long enough to see Don Bradman score his first century at the MCG in 1929..

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