London, June 11.
Lord's Cricket Ground was this morning besieged by crowds unequalled in the history of cricket. The public gates were closed before play commenced in the second test match, and thousands of would-be spectators were turned away. Among, those who struggled for admission before the arrival of the King at noon were Mr. and Mrs Asquith and the Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Hughes. It was with the utmost difficulty that the police made Way for the royal car.
An hour and half after the commencement of play, ticket-helders were still lined up waiting to crush through the narrow "re served" gate, while hundreds without tickets stood outside the other gates awaiting the chance of a vacant seat later in the day The, total attendance is computed to have been 27,000.
Three changes made in the English eleven original chosen, N. Haig (Middlesex), Major the Hon. L. H. Tennyson (Hampshire), and Dipper (Gloucestershire) replacing ead, Hearne and C. B. Fry, Ryder, Oldfield, Mayne and Collins stood out of the Australian side.
The weather was brilliant, and the wicket in perfect condition, so that England had everything in their favour when, on Douglas wins ning the toss, they went in to bat. An enterprising start was made, and 20 runs were on the board after the first 20 minutes' play. Then disaster set in, and three wickets were down with the total only 25. Douglas and Woolley then came together and made a determined stand. The end of the first hour's play saw only 35 runs scored, but the partnership lasted an hour and three-quarters, and yielded a valuable 83.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.