The Final Test ' The major problem of the fifth Test
Match between England and Australia is not the form or fitness of Hutton, Harvey, Lindwall or Bedser, but the difficulty of accommodating the half-million people who want to watch the game in a ground which cannot house thirty-thousand in minimum comfort. It is doubtful whether any single cricket match has ever aroused such wide interest. In 1926, the rubber and." The Ashes " also depended on the final match at the Oval. Preliminary estimates of the size of the crowds had the effect of keeping so many away that on the first day—a Saturday—the ground was never full. In the intervening twenty-seven years the British public has become less easily discouraged from hopeless queueing. No previous series of Test has been quite so even. Either side might have lost or won any of the previous four matches, all of which changed their trend from day to day, and all of which England saved after apparently irretrievable disaster. The extension to six 'days is a reasonable one. The nature of the present wicket at the Oval is such that the game could probably be finished in four days of good weather. If rain should interrupt play as it did at Nottingham, Manchester and Leeds, so that the game was left a bare hoUr short of a decision while the players took Friday as a free day, then they would be as frustrated as their supporters. Whichever side wins the toss will feel that it should win the match. Otherwise, on this level of the game where complete consistency is impossible, the form of Hutton, Lindwall, Bedser, and possibly Miller, will probably decide the result. The would-be ticket-holders are right: this is a match which could stand in the history of cricket.
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