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THE AUSTRALIANS
75

to bowl the whole time, the only change necessary being for him to change his end.

To select an eleven is always hard, and it is of momentous importance when you visit a far country; but it appears very strange to me that the Australians only played Hugh Trumble in one of these five test matches, when in 1896, in England, he proved himself to be, on the whole, except perhaps Richardson, the best bowler in the world. Trumble, in 1896, was irresistible on soft wickets, and had the power of making the ball turn on hard wickets (an invaluable quality). His bowling during that year was of a class that quite entitled him to a link in that glorious chain of bowlers consisting of Spofforth, Boyle, Palmer, Giffen, Allan, Garrett, Turner, Ferris, and Trumble.

I have already said, in the chapter on bowling, that on the modern true wickets plain accuracy is not sufficient to get batsmen out. I have never seen, with perhaps the exception of Peate, a better length bowler than Jack Hearne, and when the wicket is not of