Date-stamped : 13 May94 - 18:23
Australia v England, Test 5
played at the Oval, 20,22,23,24, Aug 1938

Bradman was injured and did not bat - he sprained his ankle while
bowling  toward the end of the England innings (was this the only
time he bowled in a  Test  match?).   Also,  Jack Fingleton   was
injured (strained a muscle on the 2nd day).

This provides me with an excuse to dig up my Cardus, so here  are
some selections from his match reports:

(1) At tea on the 2nd day, with England 550/4, 3 wickets had been
lbw and the 4th run out.
"The stumps wre a survival from a distant  epoch  in  the  game's
development; they were like the little toe on the human foot".

(2) With England 800/6, Hardstaff played out a maiden  over  from
Bradman:
"If a man will not play cricket when he has made a hundred  in  a
Test  match  and  his  side is 800 for six, when on earth will he
play cricket, and why did he ever think of playing cricket?".

(3) At the end of the match:
"The fact remains that the wicket prepared  for  this  engagement
was  unfair  to  skilled  bowlers and not in the interests of the
game. The game has left an unpleasant taste in the mouth  ...  No
cricket match should occur again in which the wicket is contrived
so that an innings of 900 is possible against any bowling".

In his reports, Cardus was especially   critical   of   what   he
perceived to be slow England batting after they had reached 700.

<END> Contributed by Uday (urajan@leland.Stanford.EDU)