On 26 March 1889 at Newlands, Cape Town, Augustus Bernard Tancred batted through a South African innings of 47 all out, finishing 26 not out as Johnny Briggs took 8 for 11 around him. The performance was modest in raw terms but historic: Tancred became the first batsman to carry his bat through a completed innings in Test cricket. His unbeaten 26 out of 47 remains the lowest score by anyone carrying their bat through a Test innings, more than 130 years later.
Tancred was born in Pietermaritzburg in 1865 and was already the leading colonial batsman in South Africa by the time Warton's tour arrived. He played for the Eastern Province and was an obvious selection for both the matches retrospectively rated as Tests.
Briggs had taken 7 for 17 in South Africa's first innings on the Newlands matting; the home side's collapse for 47 had set a Test-low total. The second innings began with England leading by 245, the match effectively over, and Tancred and his partner facing only the question of how soon Briggs would clean them up.
The Cape Town Test of March 1889, the second of two on Major Warton's tour, was a one-sided affair. England had already won the Port Elizabeth Test by eight wickets and arrived at Newlands in dominant form. South Africa, batting first, were dismissed for 47 — Briggs taking 7 for 17 with his slow left-arm — and followed on at 245 behind.
In the second innings Briggs was even better. He took 8 for 11 from 14.2 overs as the South African batsmen, on a wearing matting pitch, simply could not pick his variations. The innings closed at 43 all out — South Africa's combined match total of 90 remains one of the lowest in Test cricket — but Bernard Tancred, opening the innings, played each ball on its merit and was 26 not out at the end.
This was the first instance in Test cricket of a batsman 'carrying his bat' — that is, opening the innings and remaining unbeaten as all ten partners are dismissed. The 26 not out is the lowest score by which any batsman has done it in Test history. Briggs's 15 for 28 in the match (7/17 and 8/11) was at the time the best match figures in Test cricket.
Tancred had been the leading South African run-scorer of the series with 87 runs in three innings. His brothers Louis and Vincent both went on to play Test cricket for South Africa, making the Tancreds the first family to provide three Test cricketers to South Africa. Bernard played only two Tests himself, both in 1888-89, then continued in colonial cricket; in 1889-90 he scored the first century in Currie Cup history (106 for Kimberley v Transvaal).
South Africa 47 all out (Briggs 7/17) in the first innings.
England 292 in reply.
Second innings: Tancred opens with an enormous deficit.
Briggs takes 8/11 from 14.2 overs.
Tancred is 26 not out as the innings closes at 43 all out.
England win by an innings and 202 runs.
Tancred becomes first man to carry his bat in a Test.
20 Aug 1865
Born at Pietermaritzburg.
Mar 1889
Carries bat for 26* in only Test innings of his record.
1889-90
First Currie Cup century (106 for Kimberley v Transvaal).
23 Nov 1911
Dies at Johannesburg, aged 46.
“Bernard Tancred was the best batsman in the first South African side and showed it in the most discouraging circumstances.”
Tancred played one further first-class season, then captained Eastern Province and was a leading figure in early Currie Cup cricket. His 106 for Kimberley in 1889-90 was the first Currie Cup century. He died in Johannesburg in 1911 aged 46.
The first man to carry his bat in a Test, and the only one to do so for fewer than 30 runs. Tancred's 26* out of 47 is one of the more curious records on Test cricket's earliest pages.
Tancred's record stood as the only Test 'carried bat' until Eng's Bobby Abel matched the achievement in 1892, and remains the lowest score by a batsman carrying his bat in any Test. The Tancred family — Bernard, Louis and Vincent — provided three South African Test players from a single household, a record that stood until the 20th century.
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.