We were awoken, at 7.00 a.m., by a bird which bore the call of a wolf-whistler. I turned on the radio and learned that England had fought back from being 2-23 to be 3-206 at stumps. Derek Randall had compiled seventy-nine while Bob Woolmer remains undefeated on eighty-two.
At noon we watched a programme in the series, “Cher”, on Channel Seven. It was followed, at one o’clock, by another documentary in the series, “Survival”. This one is about the rare birds in the English county of Norfolk. At ten minutes to two and also on Channel Seven, Malcolm T. Elliott, situated in the studio in Sydney, introduced today’s live coverage of the Australian Rules match from Melbourne between Essendon and the competition’s leader, Collingwood. The ‘Bombers’ led for a time, only to be overhauled prior to the final siren.
“Grey Affair” won the Doomben Cup, in Brisbane, this afternoon and paid $5.05 and $1.40 on the N.S.W. T.A.B. New South Wales defeated Great Britain by thirty-five points to five, in rugby league’s match of the day, which was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The score at half-time had already been twenty-one points to two.
“Plant Eaters”, a documentary that is narrated by the actor, Vincent Price, screens from half past six. It is followed by “King Solomon’s Mines”, a film that bears the copyright of 1950 and includes the English pairing of Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr.
I watched the Second Test, live, on Channel Nine. Bob Woolmer and the lanky Tony Greg were thrashing the bowling. The Australians — wicketkeeper, Rodney Marsh, in particular — obviously felt, as I did, that Greig had edged a delivery from Jeff Thomson and been caught behind, but the umpire did not see it that way. When I retired to bed, at a quarter to eleven, England was 3-288, with Woolmer, 137 not out and Greig, also undefeated, on seventy-six.