On 25 June 1932 Cottari Kanakaiya Nayudu led India onto Lord's for India's first Test match, the first non-white captain of an Empire side at headquarters. Mohammad Nissar's three early wickets reduced England to 19 for 3 and India lost by only 158 runs in a result that took English critics by surprise.
India's first Test team was assembled after years of administrative wrangling among the country's princely sponsors. Nayudu, 36, was selected as captain after the original choice — the Maharaja of Porbandar — stood aside on form. He batted at No. 5 and bowled medium pace.
Nissar struck twice in his second over: Sutcliffe yorked, Holmes bowled. Amar Singh dismissed Woolley to leave England 19 for 3 against the new ball. Douglas Jardine's 79 and Les Ames's 65 lifted England to 259. India replied with 189, Nayudu top-scoring with 40 in 50 minutes, hitting two sixes off Robins.
England's 275 for 8 declared set India 346. They were bowled out for 187, Nayudu making 11. England won by 158 runs — closer than any English judge had predicted before the match.
Nayudu wins toss; puts England in.
Nissar bowls Holmes and Sutcliffe in second over.
England 19-3 in early afternoon.
Jardine 79; England 259.
Nayudu 40 with two sixes off Robins.
England win by 158 runs.
25 Jun 1932
Test begins at Lord's; Nayudu wins toss.
25 Jun
Nissar bowls Holmes, Sutcliffe; England 19-3.
26 Jun
Nayudu 40 in 50 min, hitting two sixes.
28 Jun
England win by 158 runs.
“C.K. Nayudu was India's cricket — the symbol and the substance.”
A moment of cricketing arrival: the first sovereign Test for India and a leadership debut that earned C.K. Nayudu lifelong status as the father of Indian cricket.
The 1932 Lord's Test is the foundational match in Indian cricket history. Nayudu is the figure most often invoked as 'India's first cricket hero', and his appointment as captain — over a Maharaja — is itself a landmark in the modernisation of the Indian game.
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.