Bobby Abel — the small, severely short-sighted Surrey opener known throughout the south of England as 'the Guv'nor' — was the most prolific professional batter of the late 1890s and continued as Surrey's senior batter through the first four seasons of the new century. He had carried his bat for 357 not out against Somerset at the Oval in 1899, then the highest first-class score on an English ground, and remained Surrey's leading run-getter until cataracts forced his retirement in 1904.
Surrey were the dominant county of the 1890s and Abel's runs at the Oval underpinned much of that success. He was already in his forties when the new century opened, and his persistence in continuing to bat through severe short-sightedness was one of the marvels of Edwardian cricket.
Abel's 1900s career was the long fade of one of the great Victorian-Edwardian county professionals. Born in Rotherhithe in 1857, he had been a Surrey regular since 1881 and an England batter from 1888. By 1900 his eyesight was failing, but he still made over 1,500 first-class runs in each of the seasons 1900, 1901, 1902 and 1903, scoring multiple centuries each summer. He was a particular master of the Oval pitches, where his ability to stay in for hours combined with a peculiar ducking habit at fast bowling — which the press treated as a running joke — made him the pivot of Surrey's batting. By 1904 the cataracts had reached the stage where he was struggling to pick up the ball at all, and he retired at the end of that season at the age of 47.
1899: 357* vs Somerset at the Oval, then the highest first-class score on an English ground
1900-1903: Over 1,500 first-class runs each season
1904: Retires at 47 with cataracts having ended his ability to pick up the ball
Career total: 33,124 first-class runs, 74 centuries
1881
Surrey first-class debut
1888
England Test debut
1899
357 not out vs Somerset, the Oval
1904
Retires from first-class cricket
The greatest professional Surrey batsman of his era and a benchmark for Edwardian opening play; his 357* of 1899 stood as a Surrey record until Hayward broke it in 1906.
Abel's career closed the line that ran from Wisden through to W.G. Grace's professional contemporaries. His record as Surrey's leading run-scorer stood until Tom Hayward broke it in 1906.
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.