Australia v England - Tour Match
Victoria XI v England XI
Melbourne Cricket Ground
4 Day Game
Umpires: RM Crockett & DA Elder
Toss: Victoria XI
VIC XI: KR Stackpole, IR Redpath, GN Yallop, AL Hassett, DM Jones, *WW Armstrong, +JM Blackham, PR Reiffel, MHN Walker, MG Hughes, H Ironmonger.
ENG XI: JB Hobbs, *L Hutton, KF Barrington, DI Gower, MC Cowdrey, IT Botham, +LEG Ames, FS Trueman, JA Snow, DL Underwood, AV Bedser.
England's tour management was highly critical of the frankly substandard surface prepared for this game, and Victoria did very well to amass a total of 252 on the first day after skipper Warwick Armstrong had won the toss and elected to bat. Snow dismissed both Redpath and Yallop for ducks in his first over, but an attacking stand of 101 for the third wicket between Stackpole (65) and Hassett (43) put Victoria on top before Derek Underwood got to work on the middle order. From a healthy looking 106-2, the score slumped to 144-7 as Underwood put a brake on the scoring, but some healthy use of the long handle by the tail revived Victoria's innings.
Walker and Hughes put on 53 for the ninth wicket, Hughes clubbing Underwood for two huge sixes on his way to 36, then the unlikely figure of Bert Ironmonger managed to hang around for the best part of an hour, allowing Max Walker to complete a fifty that brought him a standing ovation. England had allowed the game to get away from them on the first evening, and things only went from bad to worse on day two. A relatively strong foundation seemed to have been established at 71-2, but Bert Ironmonger ripped through the middle order with devastating effect and was twice on a hat-trick as the innings crumbled in embarrassing fashion.
England on the second day
It was only thanks to a ninth wicket stand of 26 between Trueman and Underwood that the score managed to crawl into three figures, and a total of just 112 gave Victoria a lead of 140, a massive advantage on this wicket. The ball remained on top throughout the home side's reply, but whilst wickets fell at regular intervals there was to be no devastating collapse in the manner of England's abject display, and Blackham's excellent marshaling of the tail saw him reach a deserved fifty as the total finally reached 194 on the third evening. Trueman snared four wickets but looked far from fully fit on his return to the team, and a muscle injury to Snow limited him to just eight overs and must make him a doubt for the fourth Test, as if England didn't already have enough problems to deal with.
The immediate problem at hand now though was how to score 335 on a poor wicket to win this game, and to their credit England set about their task in a most positive fashion. From a platform of 85-2 at the end of the third day the tourists lost both Gower and Cowdrey early on the final morning, but Botham attacked the bowling from the word go and England suddenly had new hope. Barrington, looking in good touch in his first match since his emergency call-up to the squad, made 46 and helped add 74 for the fifth wicket with Botham, and the runs continued to flow as Ames and Botham then put on 68 in even time, taking England to 253-5 midway through the afternoon session, less than a hundred runs away from an unlikely victory.
It was stirring stuff from Botham, who really was batting beautifully given the conditions, but Ames' dismissal for 32, brilliantly caught in the gully by Redpath off Ironmonger, sparked yet another English collapse. England's tail had no answer to the spin of Ironmonger and Armstrong, and the last five wickets disappeared for just twelve runs as England stumbled to defeat shortly before tea. Botham was last man out, caught on the square leg boundary for a valiant 92, but his innings was a rare highlight for the tourists ahead of the crucial fourth Test here. England need to win both the remaining Tests if they are to claim back the Ashes, and on the evidence shown here, winning just one of those games is going to be an extremely tall order.
Score Summary
VIC XI 1st Inns 252 (Stackpole 65, Walker 56*, Hassett 43; Underwood 5-46, Snow 4-54)
ENG XI 1st Inns 112 (Ironmonger 5-26)
VIC XI 2nd Inns 194 (Blackham 51; Trueman 4-70)
ENG XI 2nd Inns 265 (Botham 92, Barrington 46; Armstrong 5-55)
Day 2 - Victoria XI 2nd innings 74-4 (Jones 11*, Armstrong 10*; 23 ov)
Day 3 - England XI 2nd innings 85-2 (Barrington 15*, Gower 0*; 21 ov)
Day 4 - England XI 2nd innings 265 (77.5 ov) - end of match
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