Australia v England 1903-04

By an unfortunate arrangement of dates the fifth Test Match came immediately after the fourth one, the players having to get as quickly as they could from Sydney to Melbourne. As in the case of the previous match at Melbourne the weather decided the issue, but this time fortune favoured the Australians. They gained a great advantage by batting first, and having everything their own way from start to finish won by 218 runs. The Englishmen had to bat on Monday afternoon after a lot of rain had fallen, and could do very little against Noble and Cotter. Indeed so difficult were the conditions that Foster's innings of 18 was regarded as quite an achievement. The Australians went in for the second time with a lead of 186, and set England the impossible task, on a sticky wicket, of getting 320 to win. In the last innings Hugh Trumble bowled in his finest form, and was practically unplayable. Hayward was kept away by an attack of tonsillitis, but his presence could not have affected the result. Trumper's 88 on the first day was one of his finest displays, and quite free from fault.