Fourth Test
Toshack's knee injury flared again in the Fourth Test at Headingley after England elected to bat. On the first morning, England opener Len Hutton edged Toshack through the slips and was then dropped on 25. Hutton eventually reached 81 as the opening pair put on 168. Toshack was wicketless as the hosts closed the first day at 2/268. The following morning, he was removed from the attack after night-watchman Bedser hit him for three consecutive fours. After the lunch break, Toshack bowled Jack Crapp with an inside-edged half volley for five to leave England at 5/447. Toshack ended with an ineffective 1/112 from 35 overs as England made 496. He was the most expensive and uneconomical of the frontline bowlers and it was his most uneconomical performance in the Tests. He aggravated his knee injury and was later taken to London for cartilage surgery, ending his bowling duties for the match and his Test career.
Late on the third day, Toshack was part of a rearguard Australian action that minimised England's first innings lead. He came to the crease at 9/403 to accompany Lindwall, featuring in a 55-run stand and lasting the final 50 minutes until stumps, with Johnston running for him. Australia were 9/457 at stumps, with Lindwall on 76 and Toshack on 12. Lindwall farmed the strike by trying to hit boundaries and twos during the over, but Yardley did not resort to the tactic of setting a deep field to yield a single to Lindwall to get Toshack on strike. Despite Toshack and Johnston's lack of familiarity with having and acting as a runner respectively, and the resulting disorders in running between the wickets, Lindwall was able to manipulate the strike so that he faced most of the balls. On the next morning of play, Toshack did not add to his score before Lindwall was dismissed and Australia ended at 458 in the third over of the day, leaving the tourists 38 runs in arrears on the first innings. Toshack did not bowl in the second innings as England made 8/365 and set Australia a target of 404 for victory on the last day. Australia achieved the runs with seven wickets in hand, setting a new world record for the highest successful run-chase in Tests.
After the injury at Headingley, Toshack was out of action for two weeks, missing the matches against Derbyshire, Glamorgan and Warwickshire. These fixtures ended in an innings victory, a rain-affected draw and a nine-wicket win respectively. He returned against Lancashire and scored two in Australia's 321. He then bowled seven overs in the first innings, taking 0/17. He aggravated his injury and did not bowl in the second innings and did not play again for the tour. As a result, Toshack missed the last Test and eight further tour matches, three of which were not first-class. Australia won the Fifth Test by an innings in Toshack's absence to win the series 4–0, and proceeded through the remaining tour matches undefeated.
Read more about this topic: Ernie Toshack With The Australian Cricket Team In England In 1948
Famous quotes containing the words fourth and/or test:
“The British are a self-distrustful, diffident people, agreeing with alacrity that they are neither successful nor clever, and only modestly claiming that they have a keener sense of humour, more robust common sense, and greater staying power as a nation than all the rest of the world put together.”
—Quoted in Fourth Leaders from the Times (1950)
“It is commonly said ... that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humour, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)