On This Day

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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Sat Dec 03, 2016 11:24 am

On this day in 1950 it was a rest day in the rain affected Test between Australia and England so we will examine some performances that were particularly impressive because of or despite the rain.

Bowlers are the ones that are most traditionally aided by rain affected conditions. The most drastic example of this would be Bert Ironmonger who, at the age of 49 got figures of 11-24 against Australia in their 1932 tour. The Test was so rain affected and Ironmonger so destructive that, if you remove the rain breaks, the entire Test match was over within six hours.

For batsmen to impress on rainy days is rarer but more impressive. Herbert Sutcliffe got a match winning 132 on a damp track that allowed the ball to rear up in such unexpected ways that he "carried the marks of the ball for many days afterwards."

Rain can drastically change a game but it is not always for the worse.
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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Sun Dec 04, 2016 10:17 am

On this day in 1950 twenty wickets went down for 102 runs between England and Australia.

Cricket was only possible in Brisbane for the half an hour before lunch on the Monday but Reg Simpson and Cyril Washbrook admirably survived on a pitch that threw up a litany of surprises. There was no accounting for the flight, trajectory nor bounce of the ball and the slower the bowling the more acute the issue.

When Simpson and Washbrook were dismissed at 49-2, only Godfrey Evans posted a score in double figures. Australia had broken the back of the England team and had also figured out the code of the tricky pitch. Seeing this, Freddie Brown declared on 68-7 hoping to have a similar effect on the Australian side.

This plan certainly came to fruition when the scorecard read 0-3. Trevor Bailey and Alec Bedser, being Englishmen, clearly had greater experience with batting on rain effected pitches and continued to exploit the Australian batsmen. Neil Harvey top scored for the Australians with 12 whilst Ian Johnson and Keith Miller supported with 8. In a fit of captaincy tit for tat, Lindsay Hassett also declared with seven wickets down at 32-7. For those of you for whom maths is not a strong suit this meant that England were set a target of 192.

Australia began their defence perfectly with Ray Lindwall destroying Simpson's wicket with the first ball of the innings. Washbrook and John Dewes then set about playing defensively in an attempt to consolidate until the end of the day. The fact that this was even a possible strategy shows that the pitch was becoming something close to normal. Washbrook eventually got out for a 29 ball 6 with Dewes following him on a 44 ball 9. This was a disappointment for England but nothing close to the disappointment to come. With ten minutes left in the day's play England lost three wickets; seeing them collapse from 21-2 to 23-5. Arthur McIntyre's wicket has the honour of being the twentieth wicket of the day but also, arguably, the only wicket of the day that was the fault of the batsman - run out going for an ambitious fourth run.

At the end of the day England were 30/6, needing 162 runs with just 4 batsmen.
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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Mon Dec 05, 2016 8:57 am

On this day in 1950 Australia pull of a victory that was far closer than they would have liked.

The day began with England needing 163 to win with four wickets left. The mission seemed improbable if not impossible. It was Len Hutton who put up the sternest fight - and Godfrey Evans looked like he might be along for the ride initially - however he and Denis Compton were both removed from successive balls from Bill Johnston.

As the day wore on, it seemed like the pitch was getting more predictable as Hutton put on a display of batting that nobody else had seemed capable of since the first day. Freddie Brown aided him first with a dogged 32 ball 17. Doug Wright then came in and blocked his way to two in a 40 run partnership with Hutton. England were starting to dream until Wright went for a loose shot just before lunch. Australia had won by 70.
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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:31 am

On this day in 1909 New South Wales cricketer and Australian commentator Alan McGilvray was born.

McGilvray's cricket career was short lived and underwhelming. He played 20 matches for New South Wales where he scored 684 runs at an average of 24.42 and a high score of 68.

McGilvray began his broadcasting career at it's most embryonic; based around ball-by-ball telegram cables read out. McGilvray introduced the concept of playing sound effects and tapping his table with the end of his pencil to replicate the sound of the ball being hit so as to add authenticity.

For the next thirty years McGilvray became a familiar voice to all Australian cricketing fans. He died in 1996 after an eleven year retirement.
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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Wed Dec 07, 2016 8:33 am

On this day in 1932 the shortest day of Test cricket was played out between Australia and England.

The day consisted of 9 balls.

After Gubby Allen bowled a maiden, Bill Voce bowled Bill O'Reilly for the gain of no run.

This led to the innings break with England needing one run to win the first Test.

Herbert Sutcliffe scored a single off his first delivery and the nine ball day of Test cricket was over.
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Re: On This Day

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Thu Dec 08, 2016 1:13 am

No chance of money back for the fans I suppose.
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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:47 am

On this day in 2013 South Africa claimed a series win over India with an ODI victory.

Despite India selecting a slightly different team to the one that had lost to South Africa previously in the series, they could not mount a particularly challenging response and fell to a series loss. Whilst India played better, neither batsmen nor bowlers looked impressive.

Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock both scorched centuries and looked in perfect sync. De Kock offered one chance early on but that was the only option they had. Neither seam nor spin bothered them in the slightest. Neither of them went boundary crazy but just seized on the loose balls when they came.

Both players tried to push on after they got their hundred....but instead got out. This set out a little bit of a collapse and India, led by Mohammed Shami, started to claw it back. A late surge from Ryan McLaren and Vernon Philander of 25, of which 20 runs came from the last over. This took South Africa to 280.

Within nine overs India proceeded to lose Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane for just 34 runs. This effectively sealed the game.

It looked, at one point, that rain may have brought a premature end to the Indian innings but there was no luck for them. They, instead, crumbled to a 134 run loss.
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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Fri Dec 09, 2016 8:18 am

On this day in 2013 Australia took a 2-0 lead in the Ashes series as they inflicted a 218-run defeat on England.

Fans who had gathered to the Adelaide Oval only saw 11.4 overs of cricket as Australia only needed to get the last 4 English wickets.

The Australian bowling outfit was run by Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris who got seven wickets between them.

The only silver lining for England was the form of Matt Prior. He swelled his overnight total of 31 to 69 - a rare half century for the wicket-keeper. His stay was ended by the two outstanding players for Australia - Siddle and Harris. Stuart Broad (29) got himself out cheaply whilst Graeme Swann (6) could feel hard done by. Monty Panesar (0) exposed himself as not the world's most natural batsman.

Australia, after seven defeats in nine, have now won two Tests on the bounce; England, unbeaten in 13 before this series, have been heavily beaten in both. No England team has ever come back from 2-0 down to win a series in Australia. A particularly sobering set of facts for a team who have now been beaten well in the first two tests.
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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Sat Dec 10, 2016 10:02 am

On this day in 1936 England took a 1-0 Ashes lead after racing Australia out for 58.

England were very much aided and abetted by the weather in Brisbane. Overnight showers had made the pitch unpredictable and, so it transpired, unbattable.

Bill Voce and Gubby Allen bowled without change to run through the Australian order. Within three overs Jack Badcock, Morris Sievers and Don Bradman were all dismissed. From this time, the back half of the Australian side went on to be dismissed putting just sixteen runs on the board.

Voce's figures of 4-16 added to his match total of 10-57.
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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Sun Dec 11, 2016 10:49 am

On this day in 1903 Monty Noble holds Australia's innings together in the First Test v England.

Australia won the toss and elected to bat- a decision they looked to regret when the score read 12-3 after the loss of Reggie Duff, Clem Hill and Victor Trumper.

It was Monty Noble who saved the day. He initially helped avert the slide with a partnership of 106 with Warwick Armstrong and then pulled them away with a stand of 82 with Bert Hopkins. This took Australia's score from 12-3 to 200-5 when Hopkins fell.

After this, Bill Howell fell cheaply for five whilst Syd Gregory was out for 23 off the last ball of the day.

Ted Arnold had the best day from an English perspective. He got 4 wickets - including both openers.

The score at close was 259-7 with Noble on 131*. Frank Laver would join him at the crease on Day Two.
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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Mon Dec 12, 2016 7:37 am

On this day in 1903 England battled Australia and the conditions.

Overnight rain changed the complexion of the match and put Australia in an advantageous position. Monty Noble added only another two runs to his overnight 131 and after that Australia didn't have much to offer. Eventually all out for 285. The pitch had a big part to say in this capitulation.

Much like Australia's, England's innings began poorly with both openers being dispatched for a combined 15 runs. It was Johnny Tyldesley that turned the tide initially. His quickfire 53 in just over an hour saw England through lunch and, as the pitch got better, paved the way for better things. He scored twice as many runs as Ted Arnold but was out far quicker than him.

Stumps were drawn with the pair of Tip Foster and Len Braund on 73 and 63 respectively. A dominant looking stand from a pair who looked in control on a now dry wicket. England were 243/4 - 16 runs behind Australia's first innings total.
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Re: On This Day

Postby The Professor » Tue Dec 13, 2016 8:07 am

On this day in 1903 there was a day of rest between Australia and England where we left Reginald 'Tip' Foster on 73*.

Foster was born in Worcestershire in 1878. After studying at Malvern College, where his father worked, he went on to study at Oxford, for whom he made his first class debut. Despite regularly impressing in his performances for the University, he was not signed by Worcestershire until 1899. When he did join up with the county side he became one of three brothers representing Worcestershire.

In 1900 Foster had an outstanding season wherein he scored 1807 runs at an average of 51.62. He balanced his cricket with a career as a stock broker.

Foster was also one of my favourite things; a multi-disciplinarian. He represented England in football before he represented them in cricket.

Despite work impeding in his ability to turn out for Worcestershire in 1903, his talent led to him being selected for the 1903-04 tour of Australia.
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Re: On This Day

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Tue Dec 13, 2016 8:11 am

Wonder where the nickname Tip came from, as there seemed to be a few back then.
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Re: On This Day

Postby braveneutral » Tue Dec 13, 2016 12:34 pm

It's an interesting name. I wonder if it is one of those that just got passed down as there doesn't seem to be any logical derivative.
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I suppose.

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Re: On This Day

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Tue Dec 13, 2016 12:36 pm

Betting? Heavy smoker?
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