On a rain-affected pitch at Headingley, the Kent left-arm spinner Colin Blythe took 8 for 59 and 7 for 40 — match figures of 15 for 99 — to bowl England to a 53-run win over South Africa in the second Test of 1907. It was Blythe's only Test five-wicket haul in a Test won by England, and the high point of his Test career.
Blythe had played 19 Tests by 1907 and would play a further 14, finishing with 100 wickets at 18.63. The decision to pick him ahead of Wilfred Rhodes was controversial — Rhodes had been first-choice slow left-armer since 1899 — but the selectors valued Blythe's flight on damp pitches.
Blythe was epileptic, and his health limited him to careful playing schedules. He played for Kent from 1899 to 1914 and was killed in the war in 1917.
South Africa had drawn the first Test at Lord's; the series was 0-0 going into Headingley. The Yorkshire pitch, soaked overnight, suited spinners. Both Blythe and Faulkner exploited it.
Colin Blythe, the slender Kent slow left-armer with a weak heart and (it would later emerge) epilepsy, was at the height of his powers in the summer of 1907. He had been Kent's leading wicket-taker for five seasons and had been picked over Wilfred Rhodes for the South Africa series — a controversial choice that the selectors justified by Blythe's superior flight on damp wickets.
The second Test at Headingley began on 29 July 1907. South Africa, batting first, were rolled for 110 (Blythe 8 for 59 in 15.5 overs); the Australian-born Aubrey Faulkner took 6 for 17 in reply (England 76 all out). South Africa's second innings of 75 was equally torrid — Blythe taking 7 for 40 in 22.4 overs. England chased 139 in the fourth innings, losing wickets steadily to Faulkner but reaching the target with three to spare.
Blythe's match figures of 15 for 99 made him the first Englishman to take 15 wickets in a Test against any opposition other than Australia. He took 26 wickets in the three-Test series at 10 each. England won 1-0; Blythe was the dominant bowler.
South Africa 110 in first innings — Blythe 8/59.
England 76 in reply — Faulkner 6/17.
South Africa 75 in second innings — Blythe 7/40.
England chase 139, win by 53 runs.
Blythe's 15/99 — match best.
30 May 1879
Blythe born in Deptford.
1899
First-class debut for Kent.
1903
Wisden Cricketer of the Year (for 1902).
29-31 July 1907
15/99 v South Africa at Headingley.
1909
215 first-class wickets — career best season.
8 Nov 1917
Killed at Ypres, aged 38.
“He could land five balls out of six on a football placed on a length.”
England won the series 1-0; Blythe took 26 wickets at 10 each across three Tests. He played eight more Tests, ending with 100 wickets at 18.63. He continued for Kent until 1914, taking 215 wickets in 1909 alone.
Blythe enlisted in the Kent Fortress Engineers at the start of the war despite his epilepsy and ill-health. He was transferred to the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and was killed at Ypres on 8 November 1917, aged 38.
Blythe's defining Test performance, on a sticky wicket where his left-arm flight was almost unplayable. The match also showcased Faulkner's googly and the wider South African bowling threat — a Test that defined two careers in three days.
Blythe's match figures of 15 for 99 stood as the best by an Englishman against South Africa for many years. His career first-class total of 2,506 wickets at 16.81 places him among the great spinners of cricket history.
The Colin Blythe Memorial at Canterbury, unveiled in 1924, is one of the few permanent memorials to a cricketer killed in the First World War. The Kent Cricket Heritage Trust still tends the site.
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.