Aussies a happy lot after beating England
By A.C. De Silva
FLASHBACK: Cricket followers round the world will be happy about the
result of the third Test in Melbourne in early January (1979) where the
Australians beat Englishmen by 103 runs.
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Top performers (from left): Rodney Hogg of Australia who had
a match haul of 10 wickets – 5 for 30 and 5 for 36 which
helped Australia to dismiss England for 143 and 179. In the
centre is Rick Darling of Australia – the opening batsman
who made 33 and 21 in the two innings and on right is
Australia’s Graeme Wood the made 100 in Australia’s 258 in
the first innings and made 34 in Australia’s second innings
total of 167. |
With the game so seriously under seige as a result of the Packer
attempts to take-over the reigns, most people realised that it was
essential that this series between the two cricketing greats should not
break up the game.
Australia won the third Test right down the line and they were a
happy lot.
There were times, however, when the Aussies suffered some
nerve-tingling moments when England looked like making a successful
fight-back.
Aussies turned tide on first day
Everybody felt inclined to lay a lot of blame for the generally low
standard of batting on the unusual appearance of the Melbourne pitch.
There was admittedly some bad batting on either side.
Analysing this game, it can be said that Australia won this game on
the first day itself and the two youngsters.... Wood and Darling were
the main architects of victory.
It was a long-time since Australia has two successful opening
partnerships in the one Test.
One probably has to go back to Redpath and Stack pole to find a
parallel.
The real comfort to Australia came in almost unrecognisable change in
the attitude of right-hander Darling who conducted himself with maturity
hitherto completely foreign to him.
Wood scored a century (100) and with Darling (35) put on 65 in their
opening partnership in the first innings, then Wood (34) and Darling
(33) had an opening partnership of 55 in the second innings.
This opening partnership gave the necessary push and the Aussies
never looked back. In the second innings J.K.
Hughes made an useful 48 in the second innings to push the score to
167 when at a certain time looked as though it would crumble.
Australia made 258 and 167 - certainly not big totals, but the
fighting spirit of the Aussies helped them to pull through and dictate
terms to England.
Hogg - the star bowler
The bowler who helped Australia to push through was Rodney Hogg who
had gathered enough strength through the matches so much that he became
quite a strength to the Aussies. Hogg had a match-bag of 10 wickets,
getting 5 for 30 in the first innings where England made just 143 and in
the second innings Hogg had another haul of five wickets - 5 for 36 and
England were all out for 179 in their second turn. So, Hogg's have 10
for 66. Fancy a young man in his first series collecting 27 wickets in
three Tests!
For the Englishmen, Graham Gooch (40) and David Gower (49) were the
only batsmen who played with some authority in the second innings while
earlier on, opener Geoff Boycott (38) batted stubbornly.
SCOREBOARD
AUSTRALIA – 1ST INNINGS
G.M. Wood c Emburey b Miller 100
W.M. Darling run out 33
K.J. Hughes c Taylor b Botham 00
G.N. Yallop c Hendrick b Botham 41
P.M. Toohey c Randall b Miller 32
A.R. Border c Brearley b Hendrick 29
J.A. Maclean b Botham 08
R.M. Hogg c Randall b Miller 00
G. Dymock b Hendrick 00
J.D. Higgs not out 01
Extras 14
Total 258
Fall of wickets: 1-65, 2-65, 3-126, 4-189, 5-247, 6-250
7-250, 8-251, 9-252
Bowling (England): R.G.D. Willis 13-2-47-0
I.T. Botham 20.1-4-68-3
M. Hendrick 23-3-5—3
J. Embuery 14-1-44-0
G. Miller 19-6-35-3
ENGLAND – 1ST INNINGS
G.F. Boycott b Hogg 01
J.M. Brearley lbw b Hogg 01
D.W. Randall lbw b Hurst 13
G.A. Gooch c Border b Dymock 25
D.I. Gower lbw b Dymock 29
I.T. Botham c Darling b Higgs 22
G. Miller b Hogg 07
R.W. Taylor b Hogg 01
J. Emburey b Hogg 00
R.G.D. Willis c Darling b Dymock 19
M. Hendrick not out 06
Extras 19
Total 143
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-3, 3-40, 4-52, 5-81, 6-100
7-101, 8-101, 9-120
Bowling: (Australia): R.M. Hogg 17-7-30-5
A.G. Hurst 12-2-24-1
G. Dymock 15.6-4-38-3
R.M. Hogg 19-9-32-1
AUSTRALIA – 2ND INNINGS
G.M. Wood b Botham 34
W.M. Darling c Randall b Miller 21
K.J. Hughes c Gower b Botham 48
G.N. Yallop c Taylor b Miller 16
P.M. Toohey c Botham b Emburey 20
A.R. Border run out 00
J.A. Maclean c Hendrick b Emburey 10
R.M. Hogg b Botham 01
G. Dymock c Brearley b Hendrick 06
A.G. Hurst not out 00
J.D. Higgs St. Taylor b Emburey 00
Extras 11
Total 167
Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-81, 3-101, 4-136, 5-136
6-152, 7-157, 8-167, 9-167
Bowling (England): R.G.D. Willis 7-0-21-0
I.T. Botham 15-4-41-3
M. Hendrick 14-4-25-1
J. Embuery 21.2-12-30-2
G. Miller 14-5-39-2
ENGLAND – 2ND INNINGS
G.F. Boycott lbw b Hurst 38
J.M. Brearley c Macclean b Dymock 00
D.W. Randall lbw b Hogg 02
G.A. Gooch lbw b Hogg 40
D.I. Gower lbw b Dymock 49
I.T. Botham c Maclean b Higgs 10
G. Miller c Hughes b Higgs 01
R.W. Taylor c Maclean b Hogg 05
J. Emburey not out 07
R.G.D. Willis c Yallop b Hogg 03
M. Hendrick b Hogg 00
Extras 24
Total 179
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-6, 3-71, 4-122, 5-163, 6-167
7-171, 8-179, 9-179
Bowling: (Australia): R.M. Hogg 17-5-36-5
A.G. Hurst 18-4-37-1
G. Dymock 11-1-39-2
J.D. Higgs 16-2-29-2
A.R. Border 5-0-14-0 |
