England in Australia 1924-25 Five Tests. Australia Won 4 - 1
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England in Australia 1924-25 Five Tests. Australia Won 4 - 1. Balls per over: 8 Playing Hours: 5 hr days - Timeless Captains: HL Collins (Aus), AER Gilligan (Eng) The first Test series with 8-ball overs. It was relatively plain sailing for Australian cricket in the 1920s; Test matches were infrequent but much anticipated, each series showing strong growth in spectator support. Cricket prospered even as society was changing, and politics was becoming polarised. The MCC team of 1924-25 was led by Arthur Gilligan, popular and "loveable", a public persona rather at odds with the fact (revealed decades later) that he was a luminary in the British Union of Fascists. The team was stronger than its predecessor, but still lacked the depth of its opponents. On ever-improving pitches, Tests were taking longer than ever to finish, and by now the pattern and tempo of matches in Australia were very different to the English experience. Declarations and draws, integral to the English game, were unknown in Australia. It must have been a tricky adaptation process, although Herbert Sutcliffe for one thrived. Along with Sutcliffe, England had one other outstanding newcomer in Maurice Tate. But Tate had insufficient support, and big scores by Australia in each of the first three Tests sealed the series. All three batting epics went into a seventh day. For Australia, accolades went to Bill Ponsford for scoring centuries in his first two Tests, while Vic Richardson, after reaching his only Test 100 in his second match, went from 100 to 138 off just 18 balls. The combined bowling efforts of Gregory and Mailey were enough to overcome the power of Tate, who took 20 wickets in two matches on pitches much favouring batsmen. In Sydney Woolley made 123 off 139 balls in characteristic style. It took three run outs to restrict Australia to 600 in Melbourne: in reply Hobbs and Sutcliffe, who had opened with 157 and 110 in Sydney, now added 283, becoming the first pair to bat through a full day’s cricket (it took 83 eight-ball overs). Yet the weight of runs kept England on the defensive: Sutcliffe's second-innings century took 322 min, 328 balls – the slowest in Australia to date. His 303 runs, off 871 balls, remained a record for a losing side until Brian Lara scored 351 against Sri Lanka in 2001. There was still plenty of fight in the England team, however, and it produced another wonderful match in Adelaide. Jack Ryder’s 201 off 461 balls hauled Australia to another big total after being 6/119; injuries to Tate and Gilligan did not help England’s cause. After Hobbs (119 off 304 balls) and Hendren had kept them in the match, England’s luck changed when a sticky wicket caused an Australian collapse, and probably prevented Ryder from being the first to score a century and double century in a Test. Chasing 375, almost every Englishman did his duty, but they fell just 11 runs short, as Gregory and Mailey held their nerve. Of historical note, this was the first Test match to have a continuous radio broadcast, the honour going to Bill Smallacombe of the commercial station 5CL. The return matches in Melbourne and Sydney provided puzzling contrasts. In the fourth Test, Tate returned to fitness and form, and Sutcliffe batted through a day’s play for a record third time in the series, setting up an innings victory. This was a career peak for Sutcliffe, the only man who over a whole career faced more balls per innings than Don Bradman (175 balls to 165). But Sutcliffe and Hobbs ran out of runs in Sydney, where 34-year-old Clarrie Grimmett made his long-delayed debut and took 11 wickets. Grimmett had effectively supplanted Mailey, who had surpassed his 1920-21 effort by conceding exactly 999 runs in the series, while Tate still holds an Australian record with 2,528 balls bowled. Tate's 38 wickets and Sutcliffe’s 734 runs at 82 off 1,895 balls also set records; that they were made for a losing side reflects a contest closer than the 4-1 margin suggests..