Davidson wrecks England's hopes and Aussies win by 8-wkts

By A.C. De Silva

CRICKET: It was the third Test in Sydney - and nobody, that is, outside the Australian team, the inner circle of officials and, without a doubt, the young lad who fielded the winning hit, on the boundary, promptly pocketed the ball, and cleared out over the pickets and out of the grounds.

The day was lost completely but such was the public interest in the game that 166,000 people watched it and even on the last day when the game looked like being over in a few hours, 20,000 spectators attended.

So, it was Australia who won by eight wickets over England. It was England who batted first and scored 279 and Australia replied with 319. Then England were shot out for 104 in their second innings which left Australia to get 65 runs for victory. Australia got 67 for 2 wickets to get a comfortable victory by eight wickets.

The English team clearly outplayed Australia in Melbourne and won a convincing victory. The question is: "Why did they change their tactics in Sydney? It was likely that they did change their tactics because whereas they played the more attacking cricket in Melbourne, in Sydney they quickly went on the defensive. Much has been said and written about the deadly perils Davidson presented those days with the new ball but, even after Cheppard went early in the first innings, Dexter and Pullar had taken all the sting out of Davidson by taking the score to 65. Dexter, however, batted out of character. He seemed to be more intent upon staying in the middle than scoring runs and after his dismissal it was thought odd that Sheppard should have twice have run out Cowdrey with a pair of batting gloves.

It appeared that Sheppard took some advice and instructed as he returned with the gloves he had taken out. Obviously, it seemed that Sheppard had taken out instructions.

Cowdrey, who was vice-captain of the side, should not stand in need of advice as to what tactics to adopt.

He is very proficient cricketer in all ways. A side on top should make the most of their position by pressing on. A situation can well be lost by sitting still. Cowdrey batted well on the first day but, apart from a short partnership between him and Barrington, the England batting never sparked. It was, mostly, a rearguard action.

The Australians did little better. They too, seemed to be sparring for time and had two chances been taken, they could have been a hundred runs behind England instead of 40 in front on the first innings. Cowdrey, who could well have been fussing at the time over the injury to Murray, dropped Harvey at two; and Parfitt, substituting for Murray, missed an easy stumping chance against Shepherd when he was in the late forties.

Simpson played a fine innings of 91. Harvey played a remarkable innings of 64 and Australia's Sheppard, in his first Test, was an immediate success. He made 71 not out. Finally Australia were all out for 319 in the first innings which gave them a lead of 40 runs on the first innings.

England's fielders missed some chances but Fred Titmus bowled England well back into a winning position by the end of the first innings. He did well to take seven Australian Test wickets for 79 runs in 37 overs. He was one of the nicest players in the game. He is cheerful, he doesn't spin the ball much but puts it down with precision and flight and he was aided by good field placing on the leg side.

In the second innings, England were somewhat shocked and Alan Davidson the Australian speedster bowled tidily to take 5 for 25 while McKenzie took 3 for 26 and England were all out for 104 in their second innings. Australia had no difficulty in winning this game, making 67 for 2 wickets in their second innings.

	Score board

	ENGLAND 1ST INNINGS

G. Pullar c Benaud b Simpson	 	53
D. Sheppard c Mckenzie b Davidson	 3
T. Dexter c Lawry b Benaud	 	33
M.C.Cowdrey c Jarman  Simpson	 	85
K. Barrington lbw b Davidson	 	35
P. Parfitt c Lawry b Simpson	  	 0	
F. Titmus b Davidson	 		32
K. Murray lbw b Davidson	   	 0
F. Trueman b Simpson	 		32
J.B. Statham c Benaud  Simpson	  	 0
L. Coldwell not out	  		 0
EXTRAS:	  			 	 5	
TOTAL:				       279	

WICKETS FELL AT: 1-4, 2-65, 3-132, 4-201
		 5-203, 6-221, 7-221, 8-272, 9-272
BOWLING: A. Davidson 24.5-7-54-4
 	 G. Mckenzie 15-3-52-0
 	 Guest 16-0-51-0
 	 R. Benaud 16-2-60-1
 	 Simpson 15-3-57-5

	AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS

W. Lawry c Murray b Coldwell	   	 8
R. Simpson b Titmus	  		91
N. Harvey c Barrington b Titmus	  	64
B. Booth c Trueman b Titmus	  	16
N. O’Neill b Titmus	   		 3
Shepherd not out	  		71
B. Jarman run out 	   		 0
A. Davidson c Trueman b Titmus	  	15
R. Benaud c and b Titmus	  	15
G. Mckenzie lbw b Titmus	   	 4
Guest b Statham	  			11
EXTRAS:	  				21
TOTAL:	 			       319

WICKETS FELL AT: 1-14, 2-174, 3-177, 4-187
		 5-212, 6-216, 7-242, 8-274, 9-280
BOWLING: E. Trueman 20-2-68-0
 	 B. Statham 21.2-2-67-1
  	 L. Coldwell 15-1-41-1
 	 F. Titmus 37-14-79-7
 	 K. Barrington 8-0-43-0

	ENGLAND 2ND INNINGS

G. Pullar b Davidson	   		 0
D. Sheppard c Simpson b Davidson	12
T. Dexter c Simpson b Davidson	  	11
M.C. Cowdrey c Simpson b Benaud	   	 8
K. Barrington b Mckenzie	  	21   
P. Parfitt c O’Neill b Mckenzie	  	28
F. Titmus c Booth b O’Neill	   	 6
K. Murray c Jarman b Mckenzie	   	 9
F. Trueman not out	   		 3
J.B. Statham b Davidson	   		 2
L. Coldwell c Shepherd b Davidson	 0
EXTRAS:	   				 4
TOTAL:	 			       104

WICKETS FELL AT: 1-0, 2-20, 3-25, 4-37, 5-53
 		 6-71, 7-90, 8-100, 9-104
BOWLING: A. Davidson 10.6-2-25-5
 	 G. Mckenzie 14-3-26-3
 	 Guest 2-0-8-0
 	 R. Benaud 19-10-29-1
 	 R. B. Simpson 4-2-5-0
 	 N.O’Neill 7-5-7-1

	AUSTRALIA 2ND INNINGS

W. Lawry b Trueman 	    		 8
R. Simpson not out	   		34
N. Harvey lbw b Trueman	   		15
B. Booth not out 	    		 5
EXTRAS:	    				 5
TOTAL: (for 2 wkts)	   		67 

WICKETS FELL AT: 1-28, 2-54
BOWLING: F. Trueman 6-1-20-2
 	 J. B. Statham 3-0-15-0
 	 T. Dexter 3.2-0-27-0