On 15 May 1929 the 24-year-old K.S. Duleepsinhji — Ranji's nephew and the second member of the family to play county cricket for Sussex — made 333 against Northamptonshire at Hove, then a Sussex record and the highest score made on the south coast in county cricket.
Duleepsinhji had come to England in 1921 to study at Cheltenham College and Cambridge University. By 1928 he was in the Sussex side; by 1929 he was the leading run-scorer in the county and being talked of as a Test prospect. The 333 at Hove came in mid-May 1929 against a Northamptonshire attack including Vallance Jupp.
Duleepsinhji's innings lasted 360 minutes and contained 34 fours and 6 sixes. Sussex declared at 521; the match was won by an innings. Wisden, naming him one of its Five Cricketers of the Year for 1930, said: 'No batsman of his generation has played the off-drive with more grace.'
Duleepsinhji played 12 Tests for England between 1929 and 1931 and scored 995 runs at 58.52 — including 173 on Test debut against South Africa at Lord's in 1929. His Test career was cut short by tuberculosis in 1932; he became a cricket administrator and later India's High Commissioner to Australia.
May 1929: Duleepsinhji walks in early on day 1 at Hove
Reaches 100 in 130 minutes
Out for 333 in 360 minutes — Sussex record at the time
Wisden names him Cricketer of the Year for 1930
Selected for England Tests against South Africa later in 1929
May 1929
Duleepsinhji 333 v Northamptonshire at Hove
Jun 1929
Test debut v South Africa at Lord's; 173
1930
Wisden Cricketer of the Year
1932
Test career ends through tuberculosis
“Duleep was Ranji's heir in style and ten times his equal in self-discipline. He played the off-drive as a man playing a violin.”
Duleepsinhji made 173 on Test debut against South Africa at Lord's in June 1929 and played 12 Tests for England in total. His Test career was cut short by tuberculosis in 1932. He became a cricket administrator after the war and India's High Commissioner to Australia in the 1950s.
Duleepsinhji's 333 at Hove in May 1929 was the foundation of his Test career and the second great Sussex innings by an Indian-born batsman after Ranji's 285 of 1901.
Duleepsinhji's Test average of 58.52 is among the highest in English Test history. The Duleep Trophy — the BCCI's inter-zonal first-class competition — is named after him.
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.