It had rained nearly all day on Sunday, {and it rained again on Monday morning. Yet thousands of enthusiasts waited for hour after hour in the dismal weather in the hope that a start might be made. And they were rewarded, for at five o'clock the wicket was in such a condition that it could be rendered just playable by a liberal use of sawdust. After this, on the second and third days, everything seemed to depend on the question as to how rapidly the wicket had improved. When at the end of the second day, Eng-Jand were only 86 runs on with five wickets down in her second innings it was felt that the game was almost a certainty for the Australians; and on Wednesday the fecling was intensified when only twenty-four more runs were added for the remaining five wickets. The enthusiasm therefore was of the most extraordinary description when the magnificent bowling of Peal and Hearne, aided by the splendid fielding of the whole English eleven, disposed of the Australians for forty-four runs and left England victorious by 69 runs. Had the wicket improved as much as had been expected such a result would of course have been practically impossible; but asa matter of fact it remained most difficult for the batsmen throughout, and neither side can claim to have had the worst of the luck.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.