Alfred Shaw of Nottinghamshire, the most accurate slow-medium bowler in England, delivered the first ball in Test cricket — to Charles Bannerman at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the morning of 15 March 1877. Bannerman took a single off the fourth ball of the over to register the first Test run.
Australia won the toss; Shaw was given the new ball with Allen Hill at the other end. Bannerman and Thompson walked out to open.
Shaw was 34, a professional from Burton Joyce in Nottinghamshire, and famous for his metronomic accuracy: in his career he would bowl more overs than he conceded runs in first-class cricket. He opened the bowling in Lillywhite's touring side because he was the closest thing the English had to an unmissable line-and-length practitioner. The honour of facing him fell to Bannerman, the senior Australian batsman. The over was four balls long, as was the laws standard until the 1889 reforms. Bannerman blocked the first three, then drove a single off the fourth. The first wicket — Nat Thompson, lbw to Allen Hill from the other end — fell shortly afterwards. Shaw's eventual figures in the match were 1/89 and 5/38, the second-innings analysis decisive in keeping England in the contest. He is one of cricket's quiet pioneers: in the same career he would also captain Nottinghamshire, manage tours, and run the cricket business that took several future English sides to Australia.
Shaw delivers the first ball in Test cricket — a length ball to Bannerman
Bannerman blocks the first three deliveries of the over
Bannerman drives a single off the fourth ball — the first Test run
Shaw eventually takes 5/38 in the second innings
Morning, 15 Mar 1877
Shaw bowls the first ball to Bannerman
Same over
Bannerman takes the first run off the fourth ball
Day 3
Shaw takes 5/38 in Australia's second innings
1881-82
Shaw captains the next England tour to Australia
“Shaw bowled with a length and a precision that no other bowler of his time could match.”
Alfred Shaw's name is the answer to the most-asked first in Test cricket trivia. He bowled the first ball, took five for 38 in the same match, and went on to become a major figure in late-Victorian English cricket.
Shaw is the answer to one of cricket's most-asked trivia questions: 'who bowled the first ball in Test cricket?' His 5/38 in the second innings is sometimes overlooked but ranks among the more skilful pieces of bowling in the inaugural fixture.
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.