On 21-23 July 1884, Lord's hosted its first Test match. England, with the Lancashire amateur AG Steel scoring 148 — the first Test century at headquarters — beat Australia by an innings and 5 runs. From this match onwards, Lord's became the spiritual centre of England's home Test programme.
Lord's had been the headquarters of MCC since 1814 but had resisted hosting Tests partly out of disdain for the colonial novelty of the format. By 1884 — with the Ashes a fact and English cricket badly bruised by the 1882 defeat — the resistance was finally untenable.
MCC had taken 47 years to schedule a Test at its own ground. The Australian touring sides of 1878 and 1880 had played at The Oval but not Lord's; the 1882 match (the famous Ashes-birthing Test) was again at The Oval. Only in 1884, with Lord Harris's lobbying and CW Alcock's intercession, did MCC at last admit a Test.
The Australians batted first and made 229, with Henry Scott's 75 and George Giffen's 63 the main contributions. England replied with 379, of which Steel made 148 — a controlled, classical 230-minute innings with 13 fours that became the foundation of every future Lord's century. Dick Barlow made 38, Lord Harris instructing him at the fall of the fifth wicket: 'For Heaven's sake, Barlow, stop the rot!' The pair added 98.
Australia's second-innings 145 left England nothing to chase; the home side won by an innings and 5 runs. Ulyett took 7/36 to seal it, finishing the match with figures that would have made him man of the match in modern parlance.
Steel's name was the first to appear in gold on the Lord's honours board for an England Test century. He went on to captain England in 1886, score another century at Lord's in 1886, and remain one of Lancashire's greatest amateurs until his death in 1914.
First Test at Lord's begins, 21 July 1884.
Australia 229 first innings; Scott 75, Giffen 63.
England 135/5; Lord Harris to Barlow: 'For Heaven's sake, stop the rot!'
Steel-Barlow stand of 98; Steel reaches 100.
Steel 148 — first Test century at Lord's.
England 379, lead 150.
Australia 145 second innings; Ulyett 7/36.
England win by an innings and 5 runs; Lord's joins the Test rota.
21 Jul 1884
First Lord's Test begins; Australia 229.
22 Jul
Steel 148; England 379.
23 Jul
Australia 145; Ulyett 7/36; England win by innings and 5.
“For Heaven's sake, Barlow, stop the rot!”
Lord's has hosted a Test in every English summer when an Ashes side has visited since (with the exceptions of war years). The 1884 honours board was the first; it now extends to Bradman, Hutton, Sobers, Lara and Tendulkar.
Steel went on to be a leading amateur of the 1880s. He captained England, edited a cricket annual and practised as a barrister. He died in 1914 after a long illness.
The match that admitted Lord's into Test cricket — Steel's classical 148 the foundation of every Lord's honours-board century since.
The Lord's Test is now a cornerstone of the English summer, of MCC tradition, and of Ashes mythology. Every match since 1884 has its lineage in this game; every century there is recorded on a board that begins with AG Steel.
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.