30 AUGUST 1930, Page 3

The Deciding Test Match The last Test Match already seems

old history although it reached its end since our last issue was printed. The slashing victory of the Australians by an innings and thi rty- nine runs was thoroughly well earned. They outplayed the English side at 'every point of the game. They were a much better team than anyone here suspected when they arrived. A displeasing accompaniment of the matches was the querulous and didactic criticisms of many of the writers in the Press. If the Selection Com- mittee should not be regarded as enjoying by right the immunity of an umpire, it should at all events be criticized with restraint. The unfair critics can hardly require to be told that to destroy confidence is a dangerous form of " defeatism." Possibly the training and the process of choosing Test Match cricketers require to be better organized, but, if so, we must make up our minds whether the Tests deserve to be taken even more seriously than they are now—at the expense of county cricket, which, not so many years ago, held the first place in esteem. * * * *