The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 75

1 JA "a I mm XVU Yt SS 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 3 3 1 2 2 1 1 Underwood 40 237 HIM JML PjMgVJ'''1 I Kircii 1 Grtlo Willis 4 18 i''- A This Centenary Test is not just a case of MELBOURNE: Saturday. Rick McCosker pomp; and ceremony, play up and play the game. is a Test which matters a very serious challenge, especially tor the Englisr LILLEE 1114 12 not out "i 10 61 1 vm Lr" Xv, WALKER 1 1 Underwood 2 i 14 WSSm I 'mt wV" Sundries (4 byes 2 lea byes no balls 1 agWEfr A -fViC Old 4) 14 JJT' If jftjL I raM- 'a- McCC4kr) 4-45'jHookes) miT OiSw tW Sw 5-51 1 (Walters). S-1 02 (Marsh) 7-114 (Gllmour) B-t17 (OKeeffe) 2fef JPJT, I V. 9-136 (Chappell) 10-13B (Walker).

JT I 'V Batting time: 289 mins. JJL. CbWx 1 JT BOWLING: Lever 12-1-36-2 Willis 8-0-33-2 Old 12-4-39-3 1 vrZZ''- 'X Underwood 11-6-2-16-3. N' A A Si I CH. had his jaw broken as England smashed through Australia's first innings in the Centenary Test at the MCG today, The accident happened as the 30-year-old opening batsman attempted to hook the ball from pace bowler Bob Willis and was hit in the face.

players. And the thine for England's cricketer. is that they give a good account. of -TV-: win would be a bonus. England have come into this Test at a' disadvantage.

But it would be a tonic to the English public ENGLAND 1st Innings WOOLMER 2 1 2 4c Chappell Lillee MBREARLEY 1 1 2 11 1 1 4 not out UNDERWOOD 1 4 not out Sundries (2 byes 1 wide) they play well. We have been on the receiving end -of some ter-. One wicket rail: 1-19 (Woolmer). r. Batting time: 77 mins.

BOWLING: Lillee 3-0-10-1 Walker 4-0-12-0 O'Keeffe 1-0-4-0 ruKiii! si sic rible hidings since 1970-71. England's one big slice of luck at the end of si hard tour of India and Sri Lanka is that Jeff Thorn-' son is injured, and England could use. its share ol Takings: $66,345.70. I Juck right now. 1 his lest is like a suaaen-aeam piay-on in You only get one chance, and you stand or fall on your performance.

But the England players will not shrug off failure in Melbourne by excusing it as a one-out I keep hearing a lot about Tony Oreigs new team spirit. But team spirit does not win matches ability Mike Brearley stretches, wide to take a magnificent catch to dismiss Kerry O'Keeffe for a duck off Underwood's bowling. 'does. Team spirit creates an atmosphere for win in as a nightwatchman, added five runs in his 16 minutes stay and will resume tomorrow morning with Brearley not but 12. England captain Tony Greig, having won the toss in this historic match a toss accompanied by more pomp and ceremony than any in cricket's long his-.

From BRIAN MOSSOP tory took a gamble by sending Australia in. Australia lost five wick-' ets in the pre-lunch session, three more in the session to tea and the last two, three-quarters of 4 an hour into the final session. And there was only one glimmer of sunshine during the debacle a 51 -run sixth-wicket partnership between Chappell and vice captain Rod Marsh (28). 1, Chappell played a magnificent innings taking al- It was just another chapter in a black day for Australia -who were brought to their knees on a wicket which should not have given them any trouble. Consistent and accurate bowling aided by batting errors saw Australia dismissed for a humiliating 138 runs 27 runs less than opener Charles Bannerman managed single handedly in the first Test between the two countries one hundred years ago.

The crowd of 61,316 then watched England reply with 29 runs for the loss of opener Bob Wool-mer (9) at stumps. Woolmer and his open- ing partner vice-captain Mike Brearley weathered several fiery overs from Dennis Lillee before the speedster had Woolmer caught at first slip by Australian captain Greg Chappell. Derek Underwood, sent ning, but it is cold, hard facts on. the held mat In that regard the result is important. Whoever wins.

this Test will start out with a psychological advantage for the series in England. The attention of the cricket world is focused on he came. How will Amiss cope with Lillee this time? if if How will John Lever perform on Australian pitches? Can Lillee rip through the English batting? DEREK UNDERWOOD tralian innings, but Cosier did not want to be tied down, even with his new responsibilities. Always an aggressive batsman; he treated a bouncer from Willis with cool disdain, moving across his stumps to help the ball high over the slip cordon to the fence for the first boundary of the match. But rashness has its in-.

Rick McCosker watches the hall (arrowed) rebound on to the stumps after it had hit him in the face. most four hours for his 40 runs as he tried desperately to halt the rout. He was finally bowled by Underwood, the left-are spinner who finished the day with 3-16 off 11.6 overs. Chris Old, probably the best of the three English pacemen including John Lever (2-36) and Bob Willis (2-33), ended with 3-39. Greig, elated at England's success, rated it one of the best days he had experienced in Test crick-' et.

"A good day against Australia will always be one of the great moments in an English cricketer's life," he said. But neither Greig or his Australian counterpart Greg Chappel is prepared to concede the upper hand. Both agreed that "there is still a lot of cricket to Having gained the first edge of the match in winning the toss, England took little time in pressing home their advantage. And it was Lever, their great white hope, who found the first chink in the brittle Australian armour. Davis and McCosker, opening for the first time in a Test, pushed the score along with twos and singles.

Left arm paceman Lever gained some swing, moving the ball away from the right-handers, although the ball was not varying enough on the easy track to bother the batsmen. But the fifth ball of Lever's third over started a pattern which was to leave Australia reeling at 5-57 by lunch. McCosker, back in the opening spot which brought him so much success against the Englishmen two years ago, rashly attempted to hook off Willis's third over paid a dreadful price. The ball reared into his face and fell on to his wicket. The rangy NSW batsman reeled away from the pitch clutching a broken jaw and a torn mouth as the England players crowded around to offer assistance.

Although the incident took some of the gloss MIKE BREARLEY to the top of the Sheffield Shield averages in this his second season of first class cricket. Leaning boldly into his shots, the solid left-hander took Lever to task with a series of beautifully execu- ted off drives and a safely guided shot between slips and gully for four. Lever, until then comfortingly inexpensive from England's point of view, suddenly found he had conceded 14 runs from one over 13 of them by the free-stroking Hookes. Chris Old, replacing Willis at the southern end, sent down a maiden over and. then struck with the first ball of his second.

It found the edge of Hookes' bat for Greig to take the easiest of catches at second slip, and Australia were 4-45 with Hookes the top scorer at 17. 4 4-r -3K From BILL O'REILLY MELBOURNE, Saturday. Australia batted on the first day of the Centeneray cricket Test today as thoug the origina I XI from 1 877 had been specially resurrected for this historic job. mJW vv.im fry I W'S (m If he does, the Aussie will be riding on uioua Nine. And people want to see how Willis goes against the new Australian.

He could give England a tremendous boost. Tremendous confidence The English players who succeed gain tremendous confidence for the: coming season and for the series against Australia. The batsman or bowler who fails will have sleepless nights for the next three months. The pressure will really built up. When Test performances are discussed they are usually lumped together.

But there has not been a Test like this. This Test will stand alone; its figures will be' kept separate. In time people will say, "Yes, but how did you fare in the Centenary Test?" Success or failure? For the sake of history a player could not choose a better Test in which to succeed. It is a Test in which we will find out a lot of things about players on both sides. Some young English batsmen Randall, Barlow, Woolmer Indian failures will be forgotten, lost in the background unless they do well here.

Then they will be back in the front line, all will be forgiven. A lot of players need to do well for the sake of their Test careers. It is important from the point of view of both sides. To the players it means evcry-thing. One warm-up game in Perth at the end of a taxing tour will make it especially difficult for the England players.

But I think they will acquit themselves well. Tlw great thing about the Centenary Test is the publicity generated by the presence of so many players from the past. You need publicity to sell any event, and this is what is being done here in Melbourne, with the former players getting together to talk about their great days. It was a splendid idea to bring them all together and the organisation has been tremendous could hardly have been better handled. The pity of it is that no match was arranged for, say Sydney, between the ex-players still capable, of seeing out a few overs in the field.

Imagine the interest and drawing power of a' game in which Lindwall and Miller bowled at Hut-: ton and Compton. It would have been a fabulous event for charity, but apparently it could not be fitted in. But the Centenary Test -should be a great game, and the MCG is virtually the only ground in the world which can take the crowds it will draw. herent dangers, and Cosier with 10 in quick time, was on his way back to the pavilion in the next over while Lever had 2-5. Attempting to hook a ball down the offside, Cosier succeeded only in skying it from an edge to give Keith Fletcher an easy catch at short fine leg.

It was hardly an ideal situation with which to confront Test newcomer David Hookes. Australia were 3-23 after 50 minutes of play, and the five centuries which gained the 21 -year-old South Australian his place in this historic me must have seemed as distant as outer space. He cot off the mnrk by elancing Willis for a sincle, and then unwound in the style which took him THIS IS HIS LIFE One of Australia's most colourful and best all-round cricketers- will be guest of honour on "This Is Your Life" on ATN Channel 7 tonight. The show is being produced in Melbourne in the middle of the Centenary Test, and the guest list is studded with great names of the Rick McCosker entering a private hospital at Hawthorn for attention to his jaw which was found to be broken. He'll be out of cricket for six weeks.

mm rrom building up a bold front. But it would specially minted golden coin. Asking Australia to bat on a reasonably slow-paced pitch, which offered no particular help to the pace attack, was his real stroke of genius. Left-hand bowler John Lever, operating with bis heavy sweater as protec-- tion against a beautiful Melbourne day, was outstandingly inaccurate distributing largesse on either side of the stumps with tempting abandon. But Bob Willis, at the south end, bowled with just as much enthusiasm as he did throughout his last tour of this country when he was England's most impressive performer.

Rick McCosker was terribly unlucky to be jured by a ball which lifted unexpectedly, but Ian Davis and Gary Cosier sacrificed their wickets With complete disregard for the elementary rules of self defence. And judging by the disgraceful overrate which never exceeded eight per hour untl late in the afternoon, the Englishmen too had adopted similar selection policy. Not many Australians, not even the most patriotic, would have dared to describe our team as a resourceful batting tion. Memories of the events of the final Test in Sydney against Pakistan would -have discouraged hopes in that direction right the start. 1 doubt whether any zealous cricket historian could dig up another occasion when Australia have been asked to function in a Test with the first, second and third batsmen apprehensive about a permanent: position in the side.

It was well for Tony Greig and bis new-look English side that be called correctly when Greg Chap-, pell spun that valuable, have been a little reassur ing from the Australian point of view had he wielded his bat more con THAT WORD "TEST" According to Wisden Cricketers' Almanac, the term "Test matches" was first used in September. 1884, by the Melbourne Argus. In an article by Tom Goodman in The Sun-Herald of February 27 the Argus, through, a ty- 'pographical error, was incorrectly quoted as having referred to the best matches" of the Australian team's tour of England that year. The paragraph snouu have read: "One of the test matches was won oy England, the other, two drawn in favour, or Australia." vincingly during his dedi cated rear-guard action. I he crowd here was warming up when Dennis rest of this match unless they make striking amends at their second opportunity to bat.

Tony Greig's captaincy needs a lot of prodding from the people concerned with promotion from the spectators' angle. Thirty-six overs in four hours is just a -little bit too hot for public con-sumption. It is hard to find a good reason for Greg Chap-pell's pronounced delaying action. Granted his team's continuing collapse prevented Davis played inside the left-hander's delivery, a move which his experience must have taught him a thousand times would be likely to move in with the arm. And hapless Cosier tried to establish a new method of hooking a shortish ball when he kept his right foot firmly implanted while hitting ad- venturously across his hip.

These two young men will not have much cause to look hopefully towards the selectors during the Lillee, the greatest decibel generator the game has known, tried to right Australia's wrongs later in this eventful day. from the break-through, McCosker was out for four and Australia had lost their second wicket for only 13 runs. Chappell contented himself with patiently trying to rebuild the crumbling Aus- It needs Lillee at his I l. 1111 1 1 colourful best to lift our Rod Marsh's invaluable innings of 28 comes to an end when he is caught behind by Alan Knott off. the bowling of Underwood.

stocks again to par value. 85 THE SUN-HERALD, MARCH 13 1977 85 Pages 77 to 84 are the Sun-Herald colour comics 7 THE SUN-HERALD," MARCH 13, 1977 76 1 BBMBSBBSEBSSSES.