Arthur Gilligan's MCC side toured India in the winter of 1926-27 — the formal trial of Indian cricket for Test status. Across 31 first-class and other matches the tourists played the major Indian XIs, watched the leading players, and on Gilligan's return the recommendation that India be granted Test status went to Lord's.
Indian cricket had been organised through the Bombay Quadrangular and the Lahore tournaments since the 1890s. Several Indian-born players (Ranji, Duleep) had played for England, but no Indian XI had played a Test. The MCC tour was the formal trial.
The MCC tour of India 1926-27 was the formal commercial and competitive assessment of Indian cricket. Captained by Arthur Gilligan (who had led England to Australia in 1924-25 and was now temporarily out of Test cricket), the tour party was middling in quality but full of interested observers.
The tour played 31 matches between November 1926 and February 1927, including matches against the Bombay Quadrangular's Hindus, Parsis, Muslims and Europeans, the Madras Cricket Association, the Calcutta Cricket Association, the Lahore tournament-winners, and several princely-state XIs. The leading Indian performance was C.K. Nayudu's 153 in 100 minutes against MCC at Bombay on 1 December 1926, an innings that Gilligan personally believed to have been the decisive demonstration that India could play Test cricket.
Gilligan returned to England in March 1927 and recommended Test status. The Imperial Cricket Conference of May 1929 admitted India (the BCCI having been founded in December 1928), and India played its first Test in June 1932. The 1926-27 tour was therefore the formal threshold of Indian Test cricket.
Nov 1926: MCC arrive in Bombay
Dec 1926: Nayudu's 153 v MCC at Bombay
Dec 1926-Jan 1927: Tour through Calcutta, Madras and Lahore
Feb 1927: Tour ends; Gilligan returns to England
Mar 1927: Recommends Test status to MCC
Nov 1926
MCC arrive in Bombay
1 Dec 1926
Nayudu's 153 v MCC at Bombay Gymkhana
Feb 1927
Tour ends
Mar 1927
Gilligan recommends Test status
May 1929
India admitted to ICC
“I have seen enough cricket in India this winter to be convinced that the country has earned its place at the Test table. The Hindus and the Muslims could each, on their day, beat any of our counties.”
Gilligan's report led to India's admission to the Imperial Cricket Conference in May 1929 and Test status. The first Indian Test followed at Lord's in June 1932 with C.K. Nayudu as captain. The Maharaja of Patiala and the Maharaja of Vizianagram became the first major patrons of Indian Test cricket.
The MCC tour of India 1926-27 was the assessment that produced India's Test status, and the moment when the cricket establishment at Lord's was persuaded that the country deserved its place at the Test top table.
The 1926-27 MCC tour is the threshold tour for Indian Test cricket — the moment when the case for India's admission to the Test family was made on the playing field.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.