Stunning show - England 903/7 wkts against Australia in 1938
By A. C. De Silva
FLASHBACK: There has been some stunning performances in the early
days of Test cricket especially in the battles between England and
Australia. Take for instance the Test of 1938 at the London Oval where
England had their opponents on the run from the start of the match.
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Len Hulton.... The star batsman skipper of the England team. |
England won this Test by the massive margin of an innings and 579
runs and this could clearly be seen as one of the finest performances by
the English team for quite sometime.
Here's how England got to that memorable win. First innings England
ran up the massive score of 903 runs for 7 wickets at which score they
closed their innings.
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M. Leyland – A capable bowler in the England team. |
Len Hutton hit the record score of 364 and it gave the encouragement
for the top-order batsmen in the English side to pile on the run. After
Hutton's superb display, there was M. Leyland who chased after the runs
and made 187, J. Hardstaff made 169 not out and there was Hammond making
59 A. Wood also making a half-century - 53 to propel the England score.
With such a huge score against them, there was nothing much Australians
could do and worse was to happen to the Aussies as their batsmen Donald
Bradman and Jack Fingleton were both on the injured list and they could
not bat in either innings and it was pathetic to see the Aussies crumble
so timidly to the England cricketers. Sir Len Hutton was one of the
Greatest batsman ever to play for England and like many cricketers of
his era, lost six of his best years through the war, and how many he
would have hit, but for that war no one will ever tell.
Hutton was born on June 23rd 1916 at Pudsey, Yorkshire and died at
the age of 74 on September 6th 1990. Hutton played a whistle-stop match
against All-Ceylon at the Saravanamuttu Stadium on Oct. 1st 1950. He
made 13 before being caught by Bertie Wijesinha off Len Spittel. MCC
made 279/6 declared and All-Ceylon replied 99/5. He played for England
in 79 Tests making 6,971 runs with an average of 56.67.
His highest score was 364 and this was improved on by Sir Garfield
Sobers and now another West Indian Brian Lara has taken over the lead
getting to 400 not out against England.
Now coming back to the England-Australia series in batting for
Australia there was Brown who was an efficient batsman, made 69 and
Lindsay Hassett 42 in the first innings while Barnes made 41 in the
Australian total of 101 and in the second innings it was somewhat
pathetic as the Aussies folded up for 123, with A. Barnet getting 46.
Bowes had the best figures for England in the first innings with 5
for 49 while in the second innings there was Farnes who troubled the
Aussie batsmen with his menacing bowling and had the Aussie batsmen
cornered for a haul of 4 for 63.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND - 1st INNINGS
L. Hutton c Hassett b O’Reilly 364
W. J. Edrich lbw b O’Reilly 12
M.Leyland run out 187
W. R. Hammond lbw b Fleetwood Smith 59
E. Paynter lbw b O’Reilly 00
D. C. S. Compton b Waite 01
J. Hardstaff (jnr.) not out 169
A. Wood c and b Barnes 53
H. Verity not out 08
Extras: 50
TOTAL: (for 7 wkts dec) 903
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-29, 2-411, 3-546, 4-547, 5-555
6-770, 7-876
.Australian bowling statistics not available.
AUSTRALIA - 1st INNINGS
W. A. Brown c Hammond b Leyland 69
C. L. Badcock c Hardstaff b Bowes 00
S. J. McCabe c Edrich b Farnes 14
A. L. Hassett c Compton b Edrich 42
S. G. Barnes b Bowes 41
B. A. Barnett c Wood b Bowes 02
M. G. Waite b Bowes 08
W. J. O’Reilly c Wood b Bowes 00
L. O. B. Fleetwood Smith not out 16
D. G. Bradman Absent hurt 00
J. Fingleton Absent hurt 00
EXTRAS: 09
TOTAL: 201
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-19, 3-70, 4-145, 5-147
6-160, 7-160, 8-201
BOWLING: Farnes 13-2-54-1
Bowes 19-3-49-5
W. J. Edrich 10-2-55-1
Verity 5-1-15-0
Leyland 3.1-0-11-1
Hammond 2-0-8-0
AUSTRALIA – 2ND INNINGS
W. A. Brown c Edrich b Farnes 15
C. L. Badcock b Bowes 09
S. J. McCabe c Wood b Farnes 02
A.L. Hassett lbw b Bowes 10
S. G. Barnes lbw b Verity 33
B. A. Barnett b Farnes 46
M.G. Waits Edrich b Verity 00
W. J. O’Reilly not out 07
L. O. B. Fleetwood Smith c Leyland b Farner 00
D.G. Bradman Absent hurt 00
J. Fingleton Absent hurt 00
EXTRAS: 01
TOTAL: 123
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-15, 2-18, 3-35, 4-41, 5-115
6-115, 7-117, 8-123
BOWLING: England Farnes 12.1-1-63-4
Bowes 10-3-25-2
Verity 7-3-15-2
Leyland 5-0-19-0 |
