THE FINAL
at Melbourne Cricket Ground(MCG), Melbourne
Pitch Condition: Normal
Toss: England won the toss and chose to bat
ENGLAND 1st innings
Code:
Player Status Runs Blls 4s 6s S/R
Len Hutton b. O'Reilly 28 37 6 0 75.7%
Wally Hammond c. ?Gilchrist b. Lillee 47 76 9 0 61.8%
Herbert Sutcliffe c & b. Spofforth 63 64 13 0 98.4%
WG Grace[B]*[/B] b. Lillee 19 29 4 0 65.5%
Ian Botham c. Ponting b. Turner 15 66 2 0 22.7%
Les Ames[B]?[/B] c. Lillee b. Armstrong 91 146 19 1 62.3%
Andrew Flintoff c. Turner b. Lillee 15 32 2 0 46.9%
Hedley Verity b. Spofforth 25 60 5 0 41.7%
Jim Laker c & b. Spofforth 0 3 0 0 0.0%
Fred Trueman c. Hill b. O'Reilly 4 17 0 0 23.5%
Sydney Barnes not out 16 33 3 0 48.5%
Total: 333/10 Overs: 93.4 Run Rate: 3.56 Extras: 10
Day 2 10:17 AM
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ENGLAND Partnerships
Batsmen Runs (Balls)
L Hutton W Hammond ?????????????????????????? 61 (73)
Sutcliffe W Hammond ????????????????????? 49 (80)
Sutcliffe W Grace ????????????????????? 49 (42)
I Botham W Grace ?? 5 (28)
I Botham L Ames ????????????????????? 49 (103)
A Flintoff L Ames ???????????? 29 (53)
H Verity L Ames ?????????????????????????????? 69 (128)
J Laker L Ames 0 (3)
F Trueman L Ames 0 (2)
F Trueman S Barnes ????????? 22 (50)
Fall of Wickets 61/1 110/2 159/3 164/4 213/5
242/6 311/7 311/8 311/9 333/10
Total: 333/10 Overs: 93.4 Run Rate: 3.56 Extras: 10
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AUSTRALIA Bowling
Player Overs Mdns Runs Wkts E/R Wds NBs
Frederick Spofforth 19.0 3 54 3 2.84 1 1
Charlie Turner 19.0 5 78 1 4.11 0 2
Dennis Lillee 20.0 5 67 3 3.35 0 1
Warwick Armstrong 17.0 4 56 1 3.29 0 2
Bill O'Reilly 18.4 4 76 2 4.07 0 1
EXTRAS Wides: 1 No Balls: 7 Leg Byes: 2 Byes: 0
Total: 333/10 Overs: 93.4 Run Rate: 3.56 Extras: 10
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WG Grace called right winning the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat first.
The openers
Len Hutton and
Wally Hammond gave England a brisk start scoring 61 in 12.1 overs.
Bill O'Reilly got the first breakthrough for Australia when Hutton edged on to his stumps off an attempted cut shot.
Herbert Sutcliffe joined Hammond who was then batting well on 32.
Sutcliffe started off from where he left in the previous match against South Africa and scored an near a run-a-ball. He and Hammond who gradually slowed his scoring rate put up 49 runs for the 2nd wicket.
Hammond whilst batting on 47 nearing a half-century nicked an outswinging delivery from
Dennis Lillee straight to the keeper.
In walked English captain
WG Grace.
He was greeted first ball with a vicious delivery from Lillee which went through his long beard to the keeper. Annoyed, the smashed the next ball for four with a lofted drive that nearly took out a stunned Lillee. Sutcliffe was also scoring boundaries at will and brought up his half-century in the last over before lunch off 54 deliveries. He added another 13 to his total before he was deceived by a slower ball from Fred Spofforth which took the leaning edge off his bat and presented Spofforth with a skier.
The new batsman Ian Botham struggled against top quality swing bowling by Spofforth and Turner and was hit on the helmet once by Lillee.
Grace was soon clean bowled by Lillee when he played across the line to an inswinging full length ball.
The keeper-batsman Les Ames arrived at the crease and showed how confident he was by hitting Lillee for six the very first ball he faced clearing the long-on boundary and presenting one of the Barmy Army with a crowd catch.
He kept scoring runs at a good rate while his partner Botham looked completely out of touch prodding, swinging and missing.
The pair added 49 runs taking the England total past 200.
Botham's struggle finally ended when he loosely drove at a widish delivery which caught the outside edge and went into the safe hands of Ricky Ponting at second slip as England lost half their side and were in a brittle position at 213 for 5.
Andrew Flintoff and the well set Ames were at the wicket but their partnership didn't last very long.
Lillee bowled a slower bouncer to Flintoff who was batting on 15 causing the latter to play a mistimed hook which presented deep square leg fielder Charlie Turner with a sitter.
Now England were 6 down for 242 with Hedley Verity, a capable batsman coming in at no 8. Ames and Verity played each ball on its merit and as their partnership progressed, Ames brought up 50 and later the England total crossed 300. With the score on 311, Bradman brought Spofforth back into the attack and he straightaway removed Verity for 25 ending a crucial 69-run partnership for the 7the wicket. Just three balls Laker played a loose straight drive only for it to be pouched by the bowler himself. He was gone without troubling the scorers. Second ball of the next over, Ames was gone too as his lofted late cut went straight down the third man fielder Lillee's throat ending a good innings of 91 by the wicket-keeper batsman.
Now England were in disarray having lost 3 wickets for no run slumping from 311/6 to 311/9 with the last pair of Fred Trueman and Sydney Barnes at the crease. They survived 4 overs as it reached stumps on Day 1. The next day Barnes started hitting some boundaries and entertaining the crowd but the England innings soon came to a close when Trueman was caught in the bat-pad region as O'Reilly grabbed his second. England finished with a good first innings total of 333.
AUSTRALIA 1st innings
Code:
Player Status Runs Blls 4s 6s S/R
Donald Bradman[B]*[/B] c. Hutton b. Trueman 65 104 14 0 62.5%
Bill Ponsford c. Grace b. Barnes 0 7 0 0 0.0%
Victor Trumper lbw b. Trueman 45 65 9 0 69.2%
Clem Hill c. Hammond b. Verity 77 144 16 0 53.5%
Ricky Ponting c. Sutcliffe b. Verity 34 51 6 0 66.7%
Warwick Armstrong c. Trueman b. Laker 2 21 0 0 9.5%
Adam Gilchrist[B]?[/B] b. Verity 43 44 7 1 97.7%
Charlie Turner c. ?Ames b. Verity 13 31 2 0 41.9%
Frederick Spofforth lbw b. Botham 5 19 1 0 26.3%
Bill O'Reilly lbw b. Laker 6 23 1 0 26.1%
Dennis Lillee not out 2 21 0 0 9.5%
Total: 307/10 Overs: 87.5 Run Rate: 3.50 Extras: 15
Day 3 11:20 AM
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AUSTRALIA Partnerships
Batsmen Runs (Balls)
D Bradman B Ponsford ? 5 (14)
D Bradman V Trumper ??????????????????????????????????? 88 (130)
D Bradman C Hill ???????????????? 41 (72)
R Ponting C Hill ?????????????????????????????? 76 (109)
Armstrong C Hill ???? 11 (47)
Gilchrist C Hill ??????? 18 (22)
Gilchrist C Turner ????????? 24 (44)
Gilchrist Spofforth ????????????? 34 (41)
Gilchrist B O'Reilly ? 5 (10)
D Lillee B O'Reilly ? 5 (38)
Fall of Wickets 5/1 93/2 134/3 210/4 221/5
239/6 263/7 297/8 302/9 307/10
Total: 307/10 Overs: 87.5 Run Rate: 3.50 Extras: 15
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ENGLAND Bowling
Player Overs Mdns Runs Wkts E/R Wds NBs
Sydney Barnes 16.0 1 75 1 4.69 0 0
Fred Trueman 15.0 0 55 2 3.67 0 1
Andrew Flintoff 15.0 4 47 0 3.13 0 0
Jim Laker 17.5 3 61 2 3.42 2 2
Ian Botham 11.0 2 37 1 3.36 1 0
Hedley Verity 13.0 6 24 4 1.85 0 1
EXTRAS Wides: 3 No Balls: 4 Leg Byes: 4 Byes: 4
Total: 307/10 Overs: 87.5 Run Rate: 3.50 Extras: 15
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Sydney Barnes bowled a nasty bouncer to Bill Ponsford to which he could only fend in order to protect himself from being hit but in the process lost his wicket as the ball went off the top edge of his bat safely into the hands of WG Grace at point.
He was out without scoring as Australia started off poorly much to England's delight.
The Australian captain
Don Bradman and Victor Trumper steadied the ship with a 88-run partnership where they played cautiously and also dispatched the loose balls and long hops from England's bowlers.
Trumper fell five short of a half-century when he was given out lbw to Fred Trueman off a poor decision by the umpire. Clem Hill joined Bradman at the crease. Bradman brought up his half-century with a splendid cover drive off Andrew Flintoff which went for four. His partner Hill started nervously taking as many as 22 balls to get off the mark which he finally did by straight driving Jim Laker which did wonders to his confidence. Just when the partnership looked to have the potential to make it big, Bradman nicked a delivery from Trueman into the slip cordon where Len Hutton held on to a brilliant diving catch.
The English players and supporters were overjoyed to see the best Australian batsman walk back to the pavillion after scoring 65. Australia's second highest run scorer of the season,
Ricky Ponting walked out to the middle with a huge responsibility on his hands. He and Hill maintained a scoring rate of over 4 an over.
Hill soon reached his fifty and the pair took Australia past 200. The 76-run partnership was soon brought to a close by Hedley Verity who removed Ponting for 34 caught at silly point.
The next man in Warwick Armstrong struggled against the spinning duo of Verity and Laker. His short painful stay was ended when he tried to break the shackles with an aerial flick which failed to clear Fred Trueman at mid-wicket thus giving Laker his first wicket.
With 4 overs remaining in the day's play, Verity got the important wicket of Hill who scored 77 to put Australia back on track and walked off disappointed.
Adam Gilchirst and Charlie Turner batted out the remaining three overs to remain unbeaten on 8 and 10 respectively at the close of Day 2. Day 3 started with Gilchrist pulling Trueman for six over the head of Sydney Barnes at deep square leg. However, England struck back with Verity dismissing Turner to claim his third wicket. From here on, Gilchrist clearly not trusting the tailenders played his natural aggressive game to get as close as possible to England's total.
Fred Spofforth didn't last long as Ian Botham had him plumb in front of the wicket and soon Gilchrist also departed when he tried to slog sweep Verity only to be bowled causing the latter to smirk. The last pair of Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Lillee stuck around for 38 balls adding only 5 runs but their stay was ended by Laker who scalped O'Reilly to bring the Australian innings to a close at 307. England got a slender lead of 26.
England 2nd Innings to be posted in a while.
we are experiencing like a real cricket....hats off 4 Varun 
. Its simulating quite well for the last few matches.
