To arrive at such a conclusion I have gone back to the year 1894, when A. E. Stoddart took out his first team to Austra lin, and we won the rubber fairly and squarely, rain certainly giving us the first Test match which but for the slow play on the part. of the Australians ought to have been. finished on a perfect wicket the evening befure the last' morning's play; Dut against this can he put the fact that rain compelled us to bat on two sti wickets in the fourth Test match ut Sydney after we had put our opponents in to bat first, which appeared the only course to pursue; and had we commenced the match at the proper time it of haitan hour late I still think we would have had all our opponents out at: luncheon time instead of only having got six wickets down, the match being won by Graham who for half hour before luncheon hit brilliantly on a wicket that gave the bowler every assistance. After luncheon the wicket was perfect, and Albert Trott played se pluckily with Graham that. our opponents occupied the wickets all day, one of the best performances ever witnessed. Rain then s properly, and only one man, namely Brown, got 20 in either innings, Several of the Australians were then new to International cricket, the players, with few exceptions, being of the young order; and smother very important point was the fact that Trumble played little or no cricket that season.
After an interval of three years we met this side again, a side that experience sained in the meantime had improved tremendously, Our team, if not so strong as the 1894-5 combination, was made up by men who individually hid done better than had those of the previous team before their selection, yet we were beaten badly, and this I attribute to the fact that those of the Australians who were young and gaining their experience in 1894-5, were stars of the first magnitude in 1897. Many will argue that we played very much below our form throughout our last tour, but then losing side always does appear in such a light. Tf our 1897 team went out again, wud played under similar conditions as before, no argument would induce one to believe we would come back victorious.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.