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HT This Day: August 15, 1948 -- England skittled out for 52 Runs
England were all out for 52 runs in their first innings against Australia, their lowest total ever in this country. Australia finished the day on 153-2.
England won the toss in the fifth Test which commenced at Lord’s today, and after electing to bat first, were all out in their first innings for a paltry 52 runs-their-lowest total ever against Australia in this country, and their second-lowest in cricket history.
Australia had made 153 - runs for the loss of two wickets at close of play today.
The wet ground delayed the start of the match till noon. On a fast-drying wicket, the Australian bowlers ran rough the England side. A feature of the England first innings was five ducks by Crapp, Watkins, Bedser, Young and Hollies, while Hutton, with 38, was England’s highest scorer.
Magnificent bowling by Lindwall which kept the batsmen on the defensive was the feature of the day. He took in all six wickets for 20 runs in 16.1 overs.
TEAMS
ENGLAND: Norman Yardley, (Captain), Bill Edrich, John G. Dewes, Len Hutton, Denis Compton, W. E. Hollies, Alan Watkins, Jack F. Crapp, J. G. Evans. Alec Bedser, J. Young with R. T. Simpson as 12th man.
AUSTRALIA: Don Bradman (Captain), Lindsay Hassett, Sidney Barnes, Arthur Morris, Keith Miller, Sam Loxton, Neil Harvey, Don Tallon, Douglas Ring, Ray Lindwall, and Bill Johnston with lan Johnson as 12th man.
The crowd which had been waiting patiently for many hours set up a loud cheer when it was announced that play would start at noon, but they were warned that in the event of any more rain, it might be sufficient to rule out further play today.
Nevertheless, thousands swarmed into the ground when the gates were eventually opened.
England’s team arrived early and before the Australians had put in an appearance a Rolls Royce car in which was Field-Marshal Lord Montgomery drove through the Hobbs gate.
When Yardley won the toss - Bradman called wrongly - it was the fourth time in the present series he had been successful and he must have been thankful for the chance of batting first on a pitch which, because of the limited preparation and the soft nature of the turf, might cut up badly after a day or two.
Yardley’s decision for Dewes to open England’s innings with Hutton was the general expectation, but the young left-hander was out in Miller’s second over.
Hutton took a single from Lindwall’s second ball, and Dewes snicked the sixth to fine leg for a single. This brought him facing Miller, and he was inside the ball as he played a half-cock stroke to the second and back went his middle stump.
About 15,000 people saw this depressing start, but hundreds more were streaming in all the time.
Australia’s attack looked more purposeful than for some time, and the batsmen faced an increased threat in the return of Barnes in his “suicide” position, five yards from the bat.
Australia gained two more quick successes, the first coming when Johnston relieved Miller with the score at nine. Hutton took a single off Johnston’s first ball, but his next, short of a true length, Edrich hit direct into Hassett’s hands, fielding at square-leg.
Compton Out Early
Compton was out in almost the same manner as his county colleague, for he tried a mighty hook off the fifth ball of Lindwall’s sixth over and it went straight to Morris at short square-leg. These Australian successes were a surprise and the wicket was in no way to blame.
It was an achievement for any bowler to make the ball lift more than stump high although Compton had received one from Lindwall which shoulder high caused him to drop his bat.
Hutton continued to hold on, but he lost another partner when Crapp was caught before he had opened his account and four wickets were down for 23 runs.
Crapp had been patiently defending has stumps for 20 minutes and then Miller having relieved Lindwall enticed him into chasing an out swinger. Crapp snicked the ball and Tallon diving to first slip position took a brilliant catch a foot from the ground.
Miller had then taken two wickets for only three runs in six overs.
Yardley joined Hutton and remained there until lunch when the score was 29 for four in 26 overs which had been bowled during the 90 minutes’ play. It had been a dismal morning for England but Hutton’s batting was an intense relief.
There were more than 22,000 spectators when play was resumed after lunch with the sun shining and it was not long before the wicket appeared to be playing faster. The first extras came with three byes off a Johnston delivery.
Then Yardley in the third over after lunch was clean-bowled by Lindwall with a ball that came back several inches.
Watkins, the new Test player, followed in and played Lindwall with confidence. He was morally bowled by Johnston so much so that Tallon standing well back made no attempt to stop a ball which missed the stumps by a hair’s breadth.
Soon afterwards, however, Johnston got Watkins leg-before before he had opened his account.
The sorry tale contained few bright passages for England. Evans made only a single before playing on to an extra fast ball from Lindwall, and Bedser met the ball only once with his new bat before his stumps were shattered by the last ball of the same over.
When Bedser was out, eight wickets were down for 45 and at that point, a Lindwall’s analysis read 14-5-15-4.
Despite the soft turf, Lindwall managed to make the ball go through quickly, and rarely did he depart from perfect length, except when he exploited the bumper.
In the next over Lindwall took his fifth wicket of the innings by clean bowling Young, the fourth man to be dismissed without scoring.
Hutton raised a cheer by straight driving Lindwall for the first four of the innings which took the score to 52, but that ended the scoring.
After Hollies got through a maiden over by Johnston Hutton tried a legside deflection off Lindwall, but Tallon, standing well back, dived across and held a great catch inches from the turf.
Visitors’ Innings
The crowd had grown to nearly 30,000 when Morris and Barnes began Australia’s innings.
While Bedser looked reasonably difficult, the left-hander, Watkins showed little sign of being the opening bowler England badly needs. He frequently pitched short and Morris and Barnes thoroughly enjoyed themselves in making repeated hook strokes some of which were prevented from gains to the boundary only by the agility of Compton and Hutton.
Young managed to turn the ball but the spin took effect slowly and neither batsmen looked troubled.
The England total was passed before the tea interval with both Barnes and Morris looking well set for a big score.
In a comfortable position Australia’s opening pair after tea started to build up their score against the bowling of Hollies and Young.
Under a hot sun the pitch began to dry more quickly and occasionally Young and Hollies turned the ball sharply but Barnes and Morris were watchful.
The partnership reached 100 in ten minutes under two hours and 117 was on the board before England gained her first success.
Barnes just touched a leg-break from Hollies and was smartly caught behind the wicket by Evans.
Bradman, playing in his last Test, was given a tremendous reception by the crowd who cheered him all the way to the wicket. They received a shock for he was clean-bowled by the second ball he received from Hollies without addition to the score.
When Bradman arrived at the wicket Yardley shook him by the hand and three cheers from the England team followed.
Bradman obviously affected by this warm reception was bowled by the second ball he received. He safely played the first ball from Hollies but the next was a googly which completely beat him.
His downfall brought the crowd to their feet and Holies was given a big cheer by the spectators.
The ball was turning a good deal but Hassett remained with Morris until the close when Australia with two men out for 153, were 101 runs ahead.
SCORE BOARD
ENGLAND 1st innings
Hutton c Tallon b Lindwall ... 30
Dewes b Miller ... 1
Edrich c Hassett b Bill Johnston ... 3
Compton c Morris b Lindwall ... 4
Crapp c Tallon b Miller ... 0
Yardley b Lindwall ... 7
Watkins 1.b w. Johnston ... O
Evans b Lindwall ... 1
Bedser b Lindwall ... 0
Young b Lindwall ... 0
Hollies (not out) ... O
Ex.ras ... 6
Total ... 52
Bowling Analysis
O MRW Lindwall ... 16.1 5 20 6 Miller ... 8 5 5 2 Johnston ... 16 4 20 2 Loxton ... 2 1 1 0
AUSTRALIA-1st Innings
Barnes c Evans b Hollies ... 61
Morris (batting) ... 77
Bradman b Hollies ... O
Hassett (batting) ... 10
Extras ... 5
Total (for 2 wkts.) ... 153
Bowling Analysis
O MRW Bedser ... 15 4 35 0 Waticins ... 4 1 19 0 Young ... 19 6 38 0 Hollies ... 32 7 50 2 Compton .. 2 0 6 0 (Byes 3, no-balls 2).
