Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Saturday 16 July 1932, page 9


VERITY'S GREAT FEAT

Other Notable Players ENGLISH AND AUSTRALIA

" Not Out" writes : -

Arthur Gilligan almost went into hysterics when he described Verity's performance of taking ten wickets for 10 runs as "Thc finest bowling. per-formance in history." His feelings got thc better of his judgment and he ran riot. It is a notable performance all

right and the man who takes ten wic- kets in an innings deserves all the kudos he can get.

It has to bc remembered that Northants (sic) is one of the weakest of thc coun-ties and almost always occupies a lowly position in the county competi-tion. Furthermore, the wicket was re-cently made to order for him-a wicket on which the bowler could make thc ball do everything but talk. Still he deserves credit for being able to make usc of it, which thc Australians failed to do in a Melbourne test against Chap-man's team, when they had thc English-men well down and when Hobbs and Sutcliffe showed then how to bat on a bad wicket.

One swallow does not make a summer and Verity will have to do a lot more to be in the same class as Bobby Peel and Wilfred Rhodcs. two of his prede-cessors in the Yorkshire team.

A very large number of bowlers have obtained all ten wickets in one innings. Many years ago George Giffen did it for Australia v. the Rest. Bill Howell, if " Wisden " can be relied upon, per-formed the trick against Surrey in 1899. taking ten for 28. "His first appear-ance in England," says the " Cricketer's Bible," and in 1921 Arthur Mailey re-gistered a similar performance against Gloucestershire. J. T. Hearne just missed it for M.C.C. against the Aus-tralians in 1896. He and Pougher skittled the Australians for I8. Pougher getting five for nil and Hearne four for 4. In the second innings Hearne bagged nine wickets, George Giffen being ab-sent, Spofforth once took seven for 3 against an England Eleven. Colin Blythe, the Kent lefthander and Eng-land player, registered one of the best performances of his career when he skit-fled 17 Northants batsmen for 48 runs. It would be interesting to know how many wickets Verity took in the match. Strangely enough, the cable is silent on that point.

The performance is bound to bring Verity into the discussion for England's team. One paper suggests that owing to his flighting of thc ball he would be successful even on the hardest wickets out here and that if he struck a "glue pot" wicket at Melbourne he might emulate Rhodes. Evidently they were thinking of the match when Victoria collapsed for 15.

If thc cables are to be relied upon, Duckworth is evidently going to be the first 'keeper for England again. Ames must get in the team as second 'keeper on his batting along.

Evidently thc criticism Hammond has been subjected to has stirred him up. judging from his last couple of knocks. He made a brilliant 110 for the Play-ers. That Hammond can score freely ls evidenced by the fact that in 1927. from May 7 to May 28, he played 13 innings for 1028 runs, his average be-ing 79.07. No other English batsman, or Australian in England, has scored 1000 runs in three weeks.

Neville Carins, thc sporting writer for the "Manchester Guardian," waxed enthusiastic over Payntcr's innings of 152 for Lancashire against Yorkshire, when the wicket was "doing a bit" Cardus is a gifted writer and a most, impartial critic. He has vision and judgment and he has the knack of be-ing able to sum up a player. Thus in " A Cricketer's Book " he recalls how he saw Jack Gregory bowling at Lords. Gregory was not bowling at his top. but Cardus wrote, "If Gregory bowls as he did at Lord's, there is no question of the Ashes remaining as they arc," And he contended that the English cri-tics did not do full justice to Gregory's bowling in that memorable first test, at Trent Bridge when England collapsed for 112. The ball which bowled Hen-dren, wrote Cardus was worthy of

Lockwood at his best.

His vignettes of players are delight-

ful. Macartney he described as a here-tic, who looked on every innings as a great adventure; Armstrong typified Australian determination. Bardsley was an Olympian who revelled in cor-

rect strokes.

Brinn Hore's success for Oxford Uni-versity against Cambridge recalls that Australians have now and again done well in these matches. R. C. Ramsay ("Twirling Tommy " they called him at Cambridge nnd M. F. Ramsay were two Queenslanders who played for thc Light Blues when they defeated the Australians in 1882. Sammy Woods, who captained Cambridge, and who played occasionally with the 1888 Aus- tralian Eleven, hailed from New South Wales. Rock was a Tasmanian.

E. Le Couteur, the Victorian Rhodes scholar, has the most outstanding per- formance in the 'Varsity match. Play-ing for Oxford he scored 160 and took 13 wickets. A Melbourne University man in Campbell seems to have been thc first Australian to get into one of thc English 'Varsity teams. He played for Oxford in the early seventies.

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