The air was full of rumours about the sixth Australian team which landed in England in 1888.
I have noticed that a really good bowler appears in the ranks of the professionals about once in half-a-dozen years, and amongst the amateurs about once in twelve. Australian cricketers have shown that the remark does not apply to them; for in the six teams which have visited us from 1878 down to 1888, at least half-a-dozen amateurs may be classed as great bowlers. There may be some difference of opinion respecting the positions which Allan, Palmer, Garrett, Giffen, Boyle, and Evans will occupy in cricket history; but there can be none about Spofforth, Turner, and Ferris. They will be emphatically classed amongst the great bowlers of the century.
Giffen, acknowledged to be the best all-round player who had yet represented Australia, was not with them on this occasion, and the number of players new to English soil was unusually large. By some the team was considered up to the standard of its predecessors, by others much below it; but nearly all were agreed that Turner and Ferris would uphold the reputation of Australian bowling. I question if any team started so favourably as that one did. Mr. Thornton's Eleven, Warwickshire, Surrey, Oxford University and Yorkshire went down before it in startling succession, the last four being defeated in a single innings, and quite a panic set in amongst certain cricketers. Turner and Ferris came off in bowling, and showed that they could bat also; and nearly all the other members of the team played up to their best form. Lancashire stayed the rot; then the Gentlemen of England scored heavily against them, and the Players defeated them by ten wickets, and the believers in English supremacy began to breathe more freely.
The play of the team was very much in-and-
