Ray Lindwall With The Australian Cricket Team in England in 1948 - Fourth Test

Fourth Test

Hutton returned for the Fourth Test at Headingley and played effectively. At one stage he and Washbrook took five boundaries from six Lindwall overs. An opening partnership of 168 resulted until Lindwall bowled him for 81. The English opener went onto the front foot and was clean bowled, much to the dismay of the home crowd. The stand came after Washbrook had decided to refrain from hooking Lindwall's bouncers, which had caused him problems in the earlier Tests. England did not lose their second wicket until the last over of the day, when Washbrook hit Johnston into Lindwall’s hands for 143, leaving the total at 2/268. Both Fingleton and O'Reilly criticised the bowling group as a whole for what they deemed a very lethargic display; the former deemed it the worst day's performance since World War II and the latter accused all the Australian bowlers of operating "without object".

During the innings, Lindwall appealed for lbw four times while wicket-keeper Ron Saggers—standing in for the injured Tallon—remained silent, not supporting the appeal. England ran up a large score of 496 but squandered a very strong position after losing their last 8 wickets for 73 runs; Lindwall had Compton caught down the leg side to give Saggers his first Test catch, leaving England at 6/473. Lindwall ended with 2/79 from 38 overs. Fingleton said "this grand fast bowler held the side together splendidly and answered every call". O’Reilly said that until England collapsed—mostly due to unforced errors despite favourable conditions—only Lindwall appeared capable of threatening the batsmen. He said the paceman "kept slogging away, tirelessly retaining his pace and enthusiasm long after the other members of the attack had lost all signs of hostility ... Bradman could not afford to spare him from doing much more than his share of the galley-slave work." O’Reilly decried Lindwall’s workload as excessive and potentially harmful to his longevity.

In reply, Australia was still some way behind when Lindwall came in at 6/329 on the third afternoon. With the fall of Sam Loxton and Saggers in quick succession, Bradman’s men were at 8/355 with only Johnston and Toshack remaining. Lindwall hit out, scoring 77 in an innings marked by powerful driving and pulling; he dominated in stands of 48 and 55 with Johnston and Toshack respectively. He particularly liked to use his feet to get to the ball on the half-volley to hit lofted drives. Of the 103 runs added for the last two wickets, the two tail-enders managed only 25 between them. Johnston accompanied Lindwall for 80 minutes, before the injured Toshack survived the last 50 minutes until stumps with Johnston running for him. Australia were 9/457 at stumps, with Lindwall on 76 and Toshack on 12. During Lindwall’s partnership with Johnston, Yardley bowled himself for over an hour, failing to bring on a frontline bowler in his stead despite being unable to dislodge the batsmen. 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 the tailenders 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 and face most of the balls. O’Reilly speculated that Yardley may have bowled himself in an attempt to contain the Australians rather than dismiss them before the close of play, so his openers would not have to bat for a short period before stumps when the visitors' attack could have made inroads. However, Yardley was neither able to contain Lindwall nor dismiss the Australians. Sunday was a rest day, and on Monday, the fourth morning, Lindwall was the last man out in the third over of the day, leaving Australia on 458, 38 runs in arrears on the first innings. Lindwall edged Bedser into the slips cordon and Crapp took the catch low down in his left hand.

England made a strong start in their second innings—the openers registered their second century stand for the match. When Australia took the second new ball, Lindwall—worried by the substantial and hazardous craters in the pitch he and the other bowlers had created while following through on the left-hand side of the crease—changed to bowling from around the wicket and was warned for running on the pitch. He reverted to bowling from over the wicket, although he delivered from the edge of the crease to avoid the holes. O’Reilly said the warning to Lindwall played into Australia’s hands as the bowler’s follow through from around the wicket was accentuating a rough patch outside the right-hander’s off stump that the English bowlers target when Bradman’s men had to chase the target. England reached 2/232 before Lindwall trapped Edrich to end a 103-run partnership. The paceman followed this by bowling Jack Crapp, who inside edged an attempted forcing stroke through the off side from the back foot onto his own stumps. This triggered a collapse of 4/33 from 3/260 to 7/293. Lindwall took 2/84 as the hosts declared on the final day at 8/365, leaving Australia to chase a world Test record of 404 for victory, with only 345 minutes available. Centuries to Bradman and Morris in a 301-run stand saw Australia seal the series 3–0 with a record-breaking seven-wicket win with 15 minutes in hand.

The paceman was rested for the match against Derbyshire immediately after the Headingley Test, which Australia won by an innings. Lindwall returned for the match against Glamorgan and took 2/36 in a rain-affected draw that did not reach the second innings. In the next match against Warwickshire, he claimed 3/27 in the first innings, taking three consecutive middle-order wickets—including Test batsmen Tom Dollery and Abdul Hafeez Kardar—in the space of 12 balls as the hosts fell for 138. In reply, Australia stumbled to 6/161 when Lindwall joined Hassett. The pair put on 70 for the seventh wicket, the largest partnership in a low-scoring match. Lindwall ended with 45, the second highest score for the entire match, as Australia took a 116-run lead. He took the first wicket and ended with 1/32 as Bradman’s men won by nine wickets. Australia proceeded to face Lancashire at Old Trafford for the second time during the season in a match that doubled as Washbrook's benefit. Lindwall made 17 in the tourists’ first innings of 321 and then dismissed the home side's first three batsmen, taking 3/32 as Lancashire fell for 130. Washbrook top-scored with 38 before Lindwall had him caught in the slips by Miller. He also collected several painful bruises from Lindwall on his right hand and thumb. Bradman described his leading paceman as being in "stupendous form ... I have not seen before or since such sustained brilliance from a pace bowler". Australia made 3/265 declared in their second innings, leaving the hosts with a target of 457 in less than a day, with Washbrook unable to bat due to Lindwall's bruising bowling. Lindwall bowled both openers with the new ball, but Lancashire appeared to be safely batting out a draw at 5/191 with only eight minutes remaining. Lindwall returned after Bradman took the new ball, and told the slip cordon to move halfway back to the boundary. Bowling with a tailwind, Lindwall was at full pace, in one of the fastest displays Bradman had seen in his long career. He bowled Jack Ikin for 99 and Dick Pollard—who later claimed to have not seen the ball—for a golden duck. The hosts were in danger of suffering a late collapse and defeat, but William Roberts successfully defended the hat-trick ball; Lancashire lost no further wickets and were 7/191 when stumps were drawn; Lindwall ended with 4/27. He also caused Washbrook to miss the final Test with a thumb injury. The paceman was rested from the non-first-class match against Durham, which was a rain-affected draw.