Lillee makes his mark

England's fourth defeat was in many ways the most discouraging of the series because for the first time in five matches they had the makings of a winning position only to throw the advantage away.

In addition to there being no play on the first day, in England's second innings Australia were handicapped by the absence of Thomson, who sprained his right shoulder playing tennis on the rest day.

Despite these setbacks Australia, cut down to 84 for five by Underwood in their first innings, took little more than three and a half days to win, underlining the huge gulf in ability, morale and confidence between the teams.

On this occasion Lillee, with four wickets in each innings, was their match-winning bowler: a belated reward for his consistently dangerous bowling throughout the series.

On the night before the match one of the pitch-covers blew loose in high wind and driving rain and play was abandoned for the day at lunchtime. The pitch was still wet on the second morning and when England won the toss (for the first time) Denness sent Australia in to bat.

With scores of 157 not out in Tasmania and 99 against New South Wales Denness had made certain of reclaiming his place even before Edrich was found to have two fractured ribs as a result of his blow from Lillee in the fourth Test. Australia left out Ross Edwards in favour of Jenner, who thus played alongside Mallett, his South Australian team-mate, for the first time in a Test match.

Denness brought Underwood into the attack after three overs from Arnold and with the ball turning and stopping gave him two slips, a gully and a forward-short-leg. Redpath and McCosker did a valuable job for Australia by resisting Underwood for fifty minutes. Then in his sixth over the left-arm spinner had McCosker caught at second slip, whereupon in forty minutes up to lunch Australia lapsed from 52 for one to 77 for four.

England appeared to be lucky with the decisions that accounted for Redpath and Greg Chappell, but on a pitch palpably favouring finger-spin Denness invited criticism by using Titmus only for the over before lunch.

In the afternoon he stuck to the formula of bowling Arnold and Greig in partnership with Underwood, who added Marsh to his bag with the help of a fine catch on the square-leg boundary. Through Walters and Jenner Australia launched an aggressive recovery that added 220 in even time for their last five wickets.

By mid-afternoon the pitch had lost its bite; but this was brilliant opportunist cricket by Australia and psychologically the turning-point of the match. Underwood suffered his share of punishment and finished with seven for 113. (By taking four wickets in the second innings he became the first England bowler to take 11 in a Test match in Australia since J.C. White in 1928/29). By contrast Titmus had nought for 27 in seven overs, having come on too late in his second spell to take advantage of the drying pitch.

Amiss and Lloyd survived the two overs before stumps, but by tea on the third day a dispirited England had been dismissed for 172 although the pitch had rolled out plumb. Only Denness and Fletcher played with freedom. Once again both were out trying to cut Thomson and from 130 for four the last six wickets fell for 42.

Thomson, with three wickets, took his aggregate to 33; but Lillee bowled faster and straighter for his four for 49, while Mallett profited from indisciplined batting to take three late wickets for 14.

Australia in two hours extended their lead to 243 before stumps for the loss of McCosker and Ian Chappell. They were held up on the fourth morning when Underwood removed Redpath and Greg Chappell in the opening fifty minutes, and by a tight defensive spell by Arnold. Walters and Marsh added 112 in even time and the declaration came eighty minutes after lunch, leaving England 405 to make in eight and a half hours.

Without Willis, who had aggravated his nagging knee-condition in the nets, England had made a satisfactory job of limiting their survival time, but their chance of a draw virtually disappeared when they lost wickets in each of the first three overs.

Amiss, caught at the wicket off Lillee's fourth ball, became the first of three batsmen to collect a pair; Lloyd was caught at third slip off Walker; and Cowdrey was fantastically picked up low and left-handed by Mallett in the gulley, giving Lillee two for nought. When Denness and Greig also fell, making England 94 for five at stumps, there could be no recovery.

On the last day, however, Knott took some of the sting out of the inevitable defeat with his first hundred against Australia, batting chancelessly for three and three-quarter hours. Fletcher and Titmus lent him determined support in successive stands of 68 but the match was over eighty minutes after lunch. Willis, coming in with Knott 15 off his hundred, held an end until he reached it with an upper-cut boundary off Lillee in the course of a new-ball over that cost 14.

Knott's 106 not out was only the second hundred by a wicket-keeper in the 219 Tests between the two countries. Kent and England also claimed the first one in 1934 when L.E.G. Ames scored 120 at Lord's. The highest score by an Australian wicket-keeper against England is 92 not out by R.W. Marsh at Melbourne in 1970-71.

The attendance for the match was just short of 100,000.