...is a very long time indeed to wait for an England win against Australia at Lord’s – and get this – the previous win to that was in 1896.
It’s interesting to look at the scorecard of that 1934 match, and realise it was a game pretty much won or lost on the toss of a coin. Australia’s strength was in their batting (somewhat weakened on this occasion by injury to Bill Ponsford) and in their spin bowling. In Grimmett, O’Reilly and Chipperfield they had a real force to be reckoned with. By contrast they opened the bowling with Stan McCabe – principally a gloriously accomplished batter – who as a bowler was a distinctly makeshift and underpowered performer. England’s pace bowling had far more bite with Ken Farnes and Bill Bowes backed up by Hammond’s medium pace. Their batting was strong too – Hendren and Hammond were the ones you’d imagine might get the runs, though it was Maurice Leyland and Les Ames who obliged here - but rather unreliable at times.
England took four sessions and a lot of overs to reach 440 all out by lunchtime on the second day’s play. Australia were strongly placed to match that total at the close on 192 for two wickets, although the great Don Bradman had already been dismissed - for a rapid 36. And then it rained.
In those days the pitches were left uncovered. If it rained, and the sun came out, conditions for batting easily got nasty, with the spin bowlers the main beneficiaries. They could make the ball bounce and turn sharply, and England’s hero on that Monday (no Sunday play in those days!) was the magnificently named Yorkshireman Hedley Verity. In a single day he took fifteen wickets, and bowled out the Australians twice. The grainy TV footage shows the ball spitting from Verity’s immaculate length, and the Australians fending the ball off into the hands of the waiting fielders. In colour, the pitch is scarcely discernible from the outfield. But of course, had the boot been on the other foot, and England the batting side, it’s hard to think Grimmett and O’Reilly would have been any easier to play.
On the second day of the 2009 Test, Australia collapsed again. Would the Englishmen be able to press home their advantage as successfully as Verity did then, we asked?
Neither Hedley Verity or Ken Farnes survived the Second World War, still then five years away, although events in Germany were already ringing the alarm bells. Ten years later cricket at Lords would have a very different flavour to it, as servicemen were occasionally released from their duties to entertain crowds on single golden days snatched during a bitter-sweet summer, even throwing themselves flat on the ground on one occasion for fear of a 'doodle-bug'. There are things more important than a game.
Close of second day’s play: England 425 all out. Australia 156 for 8
