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Short Leg – Clem Hill's 188 v England at the MCG in 1897/98 – Part 1
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This episode of 'Short Leg' – discusses one of the most famous and, arguably, greatest Test innings of the Golden Age. Not yet 21, Clem Hill rescued Australia from a monumental batting collapse on Day 1 of the Fourth Test in Melbourne of the 1897/98 Ashes series. Along with Hugh Trumble, the pair put on a record 7th wicket stand to turn the innings, match and series.
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CREDITS:
Presenter & Producer: Tom Ford
All music used in podcast comes from the University of California Santa Barbara's remarkable collection of wax cylinder's from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which are free to download and use. You can donate to the upkeep of these recordings via their website.
Transcript
00:00:07
Speaker
Hello and welcome to another Shortleg episode, a recounting of a single moment which took place during the so-called Golden Age of Cricket, whether it be an innings match or series. My name is Tom Ford, great to have your company. In today's episode I'm going to reconstruct what is generally considered one of the great batting performances of not only the Golden Age, but according to some commentators of the entire history of test cricket. The fact it took place 125 years ago hasn't affected its shine or its reputation, such was its performance within the context of not only the individual innings, but also the match and the series in which it took place.
00:00:48
Speaker
In January 1898, and on the eve of his 21st birthday, Clem Hill had emerged as one of the great forces in Australian cricket. His name generated international news when, as a teenage prodigy, he made headlines for his world record schoolboy score of 360 not out for Prince Alfred College in Adelaide, or 358 not out, according to one of the official scorers, and then a magnificent 150 against Andrew Stoddart's touring 11 in 1895 at the Adelaide Oval. A pugnacious hitter of the ball, especially square of the wicket, he had become one of the early proponents of legside batting, during an age when long-held standards against such atrocities still existed. His fame was also heightened by the then unique characteristic of being a left-hander.
00:01:40
Speaker
like his slightly older Prince Alfred College alumnus Joe Darling, left-handedness was still treated with curiosity, if not outright aversion in the 19th century, and therefore Clem's early batting achievements were often heralded as greater achievements than those of his right-handed counterparts. To further contextualise, Victor Trumper was not yet a household name in 1898. Despite being only six months his senior, Hill's rise to the top of the Australian cricket chain had certainly outpaced that of the New South Welshman, who was yet to stamp his name on the game outside of a couple of good shield games for the colony.
00:02:19
Speaker
Hill, on the other hand, had already toured England in 1896, in which he had more than held his own among a team that included more senior players from the 1880s, such as Captain Harry Trott, Frank Iredale and his fellow South Australian George Giffen. Wisden wrote of Clem's efforts on tour, Clem Hill, the youngest member of the team, had some failures in the biggest matches, but for all that, his first trip to England was a brilliant success, and all being well, we will no doubt see him again. He is still so young that it is only reasonable to expect great things from him in the immediate future.
00:02:59
Speaker
The England tour of Australia in the summer of 1897-98 was a much anticipated one, following on from the highly successful previous tour in 1894-95, which saw Andrew Stolart's team win the series three games to two. I covered the famous first test in Sydney of that series in an early episode of the podcast. Keen to replicate that tour, Andrew Stoddart was asked by the Melbourne Cricket Club to put together a side to tour in 97 and 98. The 12 other players joining Stoddart included Lancastrian and Vice-Captain Archie McLaren, Yorkshire men George Hurst and Ted Wainwright, experienced campaigners Tom Haywood, J.T. Hearn and Johnny Briggs, and most sensationally of all, the great Indian batsman K.S. Rajat Singhji.
00:03:49
Speaker
The addition of the Indian wonder batsman was one of great curiosity to Australian fans, keen to see the prints in all his glory and whether his much lauded skill would translate to local, drier pictures. Such was the publicity and enthusiasm to see the great Ranji that the New South Wales government waived its £100 tax for coloured visitors to its colony. As was often the case, a visiting English side began their tour with a first class match against the South Australian side at the Adelaide Oval, following the customary docking of their passenger ship in Largs Bay, just north of Port Adelaide. Having arrived via HMS Ormits on the 25th of October 1897, Stoddarts English 11 began their match against South Australia just three days later at the Adelaide Oval.
00:04:41
Speaker
7,000 interested spectators arrived to see the touring side, especially Ranji, but were left somewhat disappointed when the local side battered first. The ageing George Giffen was absent from the home side having been unable to agree to terms for the match with his employer at the Adelaide postal department. Popularity, he reportedly said, won't pay my bills. Opening bowler Tom Richardson dismissed Joe Darling with the second ball of the match, caught and bowled, which brought the 20-year-old Clem Hill to the crease. According to the reporter from the Adelaide Register, then was witnessed as lively a 10 minutes of batting as we have seen on the Adelaide Oval for many a day.
00:05:25
Speaker
Hill showed no anxiety at the crease, carting Tom Richardson, whom Hill later classed as the greatest bowler he ever faced, and Briggs to all corners of the ground, especially making use of the square leg area. Hill continued to bludgeon the weary English bowlers, still trying to settle after their long ocean journey deep into the first day, which included a short, light rain break. which, according to reporters, didn't affect the pitch but made the ball greasy for the bowling side. The Register newspaper continued in its colourful and descriptive reporting of Hill's batting while his teammates fell around him. The young batsman who was equal to the emergency laid cut one of Richardson's for four and then affected two lovely cover strokes off Hurst which raced to the boundary.
00:06:15
Speaker
A drive for three off the same bowler made him 96, but before he got to his 100, Richardson broke through Walter Giffen's defence with a splendid ball that turned the width of the wicket and took the legs up. Four for 169. Evans went in and took a single off Richardson. The next shot, Hiloff Hurst gave him two runs and thus he put the first century against Stoddart's Taylor. He had been two hours and ten minutes in compiling his century. According to this reporter, Richardson, realising the skill of young Hill, changed his field by adding an extra field on the leg side to counter the batsman's preference in that area, and began pitching the ball shorter. But to no avail, as Hill adapted to the change with ease. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Hill was on 139 and the total for South Australia was 255. The register again takes up the reporting.
00:07:13
Speaker
A hit missfield by Briggs, a rare circumstance, gave Hill two runs and topped the score of 150, made by him against Stoddart's team in Adelaide in March 1895. Of course, a round of cheers was bestowed upon the popular young left-hander. So as Clem Hill had done on Stoddart's previous tour of the colonies, the batsman had obliterated the tourists on his home turf. Hill's freestyle batting continued late into the last session when he brought up his double sentry.
00:07:45
Speaker
He several times raised the plaudits from the crowd, wrote the register, but the cheers were mere whispers compared with the ringing applause that was bestowed upon him when, with a stolen run, he made his score 200. For a minute or two, the shouting and hand clapping of the people continued, and the Englishmen joined in the appreciation of Hill's battle. Stumps were drawn a minute or two later, and the score was 5 for 361.
00:08:15
Speaker
If Hill's effort in the reciprocal match of 1895 hadn't caught the attention of the tourists, then his dominant performance two and a half years later certainly did. Tom Richardson, who toiled all day for two wickets at the expense of 101 runs, wrote that night in his diary, Clem Hill being not out 200, one of the best batting displays one ever wished to see. We all felt done up at finish with a long day and cold wind. Went to bed early. Hill failed to add to his overnight score, being bowled by Heywood in the first over of the second day, 200 runs for the young South Australian. The rest of the day saw Ranjit Singhji in the centre, also scoring a century, but unlike Hill's chanceless performance, was dropped a remarkable six times on his way to 189. He became the third Englishman to score a first class century on debut in Australia.
00:09:11
Speaker
The match ended in a draw, having been reduced to four days so the English team could arrive in Melbourne in time for the running of the Melbourne Cup. But the match generated a sensation with the no-balling of South Australian tearaway Ernie Jones by umpire Jim Phillips, just before lunch on day three. According to one local newspaper, he immediately slowed down and his bowling lost its suspicious character. Phillips later said, Jones was not suspended from bowling, he was simply no-balled for an illegal delivery. He took the lesson to heart and did not do it again.
00:09:47
Speaker
Well, a bit more on that later. The fast bowler finished with seven English wickets for the innings. Clem Hill made another 45 in the second South Australian innings, but the stage was set to see how he would fare against the English team once they had fully acclimatised to the hot Australian conditions and recovered from the various colds and ailments contracted on their sea voyage. The first test of the 1897-98 ashes began at the Sydney Cricket Ground on the 13th of December, in what is best remembered for the test debut of Rajat Sinji. Batting at the uncustomary position of number seven, to recover from Bount of Quincy, Ranji hit a faultless 175 in 223 minutes twenty three established a higher score by an Englishman in Australia.
00:10:38
Speaker
Along with Archie McLaren's 109 at the top of the order, the English produced a commanding total of 551, and Australia were never in the hunt. They bowled the locals out for 237, Clem Hill bowled by Hearn for 19. Forced to follow on, the Australians produced a much better effort the second time around, led by the two South Australians. Joe Darling opening the batting hit 101, not only his debut test century, but the first test hundred by a left-hander. Young Hill almost followed suit, but was again bowled by Hearne, this time for 96, the first of his five test dismissals within four runs of a century. England comfortably winning the first test by nine wickets.
00:11:25
Speaker
The second Test match was in Melbourne, beginning on the first day of the new year. Australia struck revenge in this match, winning by an innings and 55 runs, following a career-best 112 from Charlie McLeod at the top of the order. Supported by half-centuries to Frank Iredale, Harry Chott and Clem Hill, England failed to reach Australia's combined total of 520 across both innings, the best solo effort being, again, Ranji, who hit 71, despite continuing to suffer from a sore throat. Jim Phillips again found issue with Ernie Jones and no-balled one of his deliveries for having an illegal action, thus making Jones the first official test chucker in history.
00:12:09
Speaker
The third test in Adelaide a week later saw an almost identical result, with Australia batting first, setting a huge total and England ultimately losing by more than an innings. Local boy Joe Darling again established his opening credentials by hitting 178 on the opening day. and innings which today is best remembered for containing the first six in test cricket. In 1898 a ball which landed over the fence was awarded five runs. To score a six the batsman literally had to smack the ball out of the ground. What's more, Darling smote the ball when on 98, thus reaching his century in the most sensational way possible.
00:12:50
Speaker
As the Adelaide Register newspaper reported, the six of Briggs was hit to square leg which sent the ball sailing out of the oval. Following this match, both Ranjit Singhji and the South Australian Cricket Association downplayed the crowd abuse hurled at the Indian batsmen. Inflammatory comments prior to the match by Ranji about the Adelaide ground and its cricketers resulted in crowd abuse or barracking from the rambunctious locals. Ranji said it didn't affect his batting. In fact, it spurred him on.
00:13:24
Speaker
For his part, Clem Hill was again in the run, scoring 81, coming in at number three. Darling and Hill, the two Adelaide left-handers, combining for 148 until Hill nicked a ball off Richardson into the gloves of Bill Storner. Again, McLaren and Ranji top scoring for the English, albeit in their second innings, and their efforts were too late to prevent an innings defeat.
00:13:51
Speaker
If you're enjoying this podcast, perhaps you'd like to support it with a small donation. You can buy me a coffee. All contributions help maintain the small running costs of producing this podcast and give me the assurance to keep it going. You can donate at buymeacoffee.com slash golden age of cricket. This brings me to the famous fourth test match of 1897-98 which returned to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and England needed a victory or draw to salvage the series with Australia leading 2-1 of the five match series. George Hurst was unable to play for the tourists suffering from a strained side. Replaced in this test by Ted Wainwright.
00:14:34
Speaker
The umpires for the match were Jim Phillips and Charles Bannerman, the latter having hit Test cricket's first century at the same ground 21 years earlier. Bannerman's former Test teammate, Tom Horan, who wrote under the pseudonym Felix, wrote in the Australasian leading into the fourth Test match that, quote Everywhere you go nothing is talked of but the coming test match in tram, train, street, office or hotel and I heard one man say the other day that he tried in vain to find a place in Melbourne where the test match was not the topic of conversation. Melburnians awoke for the first day of the test match on the 29th of January and were confronted with extremely hot weather.
00:15:17
Speaker
The Melbourne correspondent for the Geelong Advertiser described the morning as extremely hot with a high wind and inclined to dust. The temperature was later officially recorded at having reached a stifling 41.7 degrees Celsius. Adding to the discomfort were bushfires surrounding Melbourne, providing visibility issues for player and spectators alike. Ranji later commented that Australia was the only place on earth which was prepared to set the country alight just to win a test match.
00:15:50
Speaker
Still, as there were no official laws against abandoning play due to visibility issues other than natural light, the match began as planned, and Harry Trott again won the toss and sent his men into bat. Andrew Stoddard, who had missed the first two tests due to the death of his mother, with acting skipper Archie McLaren filling the void, had now returned to the side and bemoaned having to take the field on such a hot day. At the end of the tour, during the customary round of speechmaking at various dinners, Stoddart commented, Harry Trott always pushes me into speechmaking first, but never into batting first.
00:16:30
Speaker
The crowd began entering the Melbourne Cricket Ground, although numerous commentators stated how the eventual crowd of 19,600 was down on what was expected due to the dramatic situation of the series, but considering the weather was not wholly surprising. Recent century makers Charlie MacLeod and Joe Darling walked to the centre to face the ire of Tom Richardson and J.T. Hearn. What followed to the dismay of the Melbourne spectators was one of the great batting collapses in the early days of test cricket.
00:17:03
Speaker
There exists many contemporaneous reports from that memorable first day of the fourth test match, in which I'll quote, but there also exists a couple of priceless reminiscences from the cricketers themselves, not least of which from Clem Hill, who was at the centre of the ground for much of the day's play. Recalling the first session, 35 years later, Hill said, Disaster set in early as it often does on the opening day of Melbourne. The wicket, being too paced, plays in an uncertain way. Bowlers are able to turn the ball on it unexpectedly. McLeod returned to the dressing room after having scored one. I went in first wicket down to join Darling. He was dismissed by Richardson when he was 12. Sid Gregory came in and was clean bowled by Richardson next morning.
00:17:54
Speaker
Hills Pro sets the scene. Richardson and Hearn had ambushed the Australians with some exceptional bowling. Australia were 3 for 25 and Frank Iredell came to the wicket to face the extreme pace of Richardson, who was now on a hat-trick. He managed to survive that first delivery, but fell shortly after for a duck when they nicked one off Hearn to the keeper. Australia 4 for 26. Hill, standing at the other end, had survived the onslaught. Next batsman in was Monty Noble, who managed to drive home for three and then add a single to his total. The Argus newspaper then picks up the story. Noble pushed one low back to the bowler, an easy catch, and five of Australia's best batsmen gone for 32 runs. Noble's wicket was a genuine triumph for the bowler, for just before he had put one dangerously close to the bowler. Yet when Hearn, after waiting a while, gave him the same ball he walked into the snare like a novice. Hearn had taken three wickets for 11 and was giving them a taste of what he does in England with the wicket helping a little. Richardson had got 2 for 21 and Stoddart realised that losing the toss is not always the calamity it looks.
00:19:11
Speaker
Captain Harry Trott joined Hill in the centre to try and salvage something for the Australian innings and managed to seize sight to the lunch break without losing another wicket. Five for 58 after the first session, 20-year-old Clem Hill had made 34 of the total. Resuming after lunch, Hill and Trot set about restoring the Australian innings. Hill was to later describe Trot as the best captain he ever played under, for both his tactical nous and the manner in which he handled the men under him. Hill recalled a story that took place on the 1896 tour of England, his first international tour, which summed up Trot's character.
00:19:54
Speaker
He was a fine judge of human nature and always got the best out of his men. Nothing ever upset him. He was an inveterate smoker. We were playing in a match at Lord's. When leaving the dressing room to go into bat, he put his lighted cigar on one side. I had hardly got the pads on ready for an emergency when Trot returned, out first ball. He calmly walked up to his cigar and all he remarked was, thank goodness it hasn't gone out.
00:20:26
Speaker
Back to the Melbourne cricket ground on day one of the fourth test however, and Trott this time made seven runs before succumbing to the in-form Hearn, caught behind, Australia now in all sorts, six down for 58, Hearn with four of those wickets having conceded just 20 runs, and Richardson at the other end with two for 18.
00:20:49
Speaker
Into the tail and local boy Hugh Trumbull joined Hill in the centre. Melburnians at the ground were in disbelief. Clem Hill takes up the story. I read in the newspapers afterwards that the men who had brought their lunch boxes with them never opened them. They didn't feel like eating, they just stood or sat chewing the stems of their pipes. A telegram from Adelaide stated that a thunderstorm had reached there from the west and was on the way east and would bring rain with it. Some humorous suggested that to make sure it arrived on time to damage the wicket for the Englishman, it should be put on the Melbourne Express.
00:21:28
Speaker
Hill and Trumbull began their partnership earnestly, as the journalist for the Melbourne newspaper The Argus relates. With all the difficulties Hill was batting like a book, and the crowd cheered him for every run. He could get nothing through the off field, but was remarkably clever in utilising every chance for a pull, and his unequalled strength in on play served him well in the emergency. At intervals, Richardson put in a very fast one, faster than anything he had bowled yet on this trip.
00:21:59
Speaker
and with one of the ones in which he got Gregory's wicket. In playing one of Hearn's, Hill got so far back that he very nearly stepped into his wicket, and in swinging round to a leg ball off Richardson's he fell, but touched it and got his 4, the stroke making him 50, gotten an hour and 46 minutes. When Hugh Trumbull passed away in 1938, aged 71, Clem Hill wrote a newspaper article paying tribute to the great Victorian off-spinner. In it, he recalled their great partnership of the Melbourne test in 1898, and said that, despite what the record books say, quote, they'll never tell you the real story. Hughie Trumbull made every run I got that day.
00:22:45
Speaker
Ten years his senior, and the veteran of three tours of England at this stage, Trumbull managed to keep Hill's concentration going. Being just a lad of 20 in 1898, the balance between youth and experience was just the tonic Australia required at this stage of day one of the test. Hill recalls the advice he received when Trumbull first came to the wicket. Not a smile on his face. He looked very business-like. I strolled across to meet him as a batsman does greet a newcomer to give him a tip or two about the wicket when he started at me with, now cut out this rubbish. You leave that ball outside the off stump alone. Do you hear me? It was a command, all right. And it put me right on my toes. Every time throughout that long fighting day that I tried to have a go, Huey fairly jumped on me.
00:23:39
Speaker
Hill and Trumbull gradually fought back during the second session on day one. Having reached his half century, Hill continued on, ably supported by the wisdom and patience of Trumbull. The Argus tells how the Melbourne crowd increasingly found their voice as Hill continued on his way. Clem was always spoken of in England as the boy of the last Australian team. The first of the fours brought 80 up, and the big crowd found voice in earnest, when two in an over, Hill drove Richardson hard to the offside fence, bringing 90 up. Storrer, after hesitating for just a second, appealed for a catch off Trumbull, but the second's hesitation seemed to give the crowd the hint
00:24:25
Speaker
that it was not a genuine appeal, and there was such a roar of disapproval as I have not yet heard during the progress of these matches, the English WikiKeeper and Captain looking around in astonishment. In spite of this hesitation, however, the appeal was justified. It was a roar of applause, however, when Trumbull put a ball off hern through the slips for four.
00:24:51
Speaker
Thanks for listening to part one of this Short Lake episode on Clem Hill's historic innings of 188 against England in 1898. Keep an eye out for the concluding episode shortly. My name is Tom Ford. Bye for now.