Sydney Barnes took 8 for 56 and 9 for 103 — match figures of 17 for 159 — at the Old Wanderers in Johannesburg in the second Test of the 1913-14 series. The figures were the best in any Test match for the next 42 years, only surpassed by Jim Laker's 19 for 90 at Old Trafford in 1956.
South Africa had toured England in 1912 with the Triangular Tournament — a disaster for them. By 1913-14 they were trying to rebuild around batsmen like Aubrey Faulkner and Herbie Taylor.
South Africa won the toss and batted on the matting. Barnes opened the bowling for Douglas's England.
Bowling on the matting strips that South Africa used at home, Barnes was on a different plane to the rest of the bowlers. South Africa, batting first, were dismissed for 160 with Barnes taking 8 for 56 in 26.3 overs. England replied with 403, Hobbs scoring 41 and J.W.H.T. Douglas a hundred. Second time round, Barnes took 9 for 103 in 38.4 overs as South Africa subsided for 231. England won by an innings and 12 runs. The match figures of 17 for 159 broke the previous Test record of 15 for 28 by Sussex's George Lohmann at Port Elizabeth in 1896, also against South Africa. Barnes' Johannesburg analysis was the standard for the next four decades. It is a measure of his performance on the tour that this single match was just one of several spectacular efforts in his series total of 49 wickets.
Day 1: SA 160 all out, Barnes 8/56
Day 2-3: England 403, Douglas 119
Day 4-5: SA 231 all out, Barnes 9/103
End of Match: England win by an innings and 12 runs
Day 1
Barnes 8/56; SA 160 all out
Day 3
Douglas 119; England 403
Day 5
Barnes 9/103; England win by innings and 12 runs
“Barnes bowled with a kind of cold fury that day. The South Africans were beaten before they walked in.”
Barnes' Johannesburg figures stood as the Test record until Laker's 19 for 90 in 1956. They remain the best bowling figures in a Test match outside England.
The best match bowling in Test cricket from 1913 to 1956 — Barnes at the height of his powers.
The 17/159 is the single most-quoted set of figures in any Barnes biography. With Hobbs's 197 first-class centuries and Bradman's 99.94, it is one of the imperishable statistics of pre-modern cricket.
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.