England v Australia 1897-98

Played at MELBOURNE, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, January 1, 3, 4, 5. In this, the second of the test matches, the Australians found ample compensation for their defeat at Sydney, beating the Englishmen in decisive fashion by an innings and 55 runs. They richly deserved their victory, showing much finer form than their opponents, but they were fortunate in having first innings, the wicket - owing probably to the excessively hot weather - cracking during the later stages of the game in a fashion very unusual at Melbourne. Noble was substituted for Lyons in the Colonial team with the happiest results, his bowling being wonderfully effective in the last innings. The Australian batting was consistently good, Charles McLeod's innings of 112, though not attractive to look at, being invaluable to his side. He was at the wickets for four hours and five minutes. In this match Jones was for the second time no-balled by Phillips for throwing.