On Test debut at the SCG in February 1925, the 33-year-old leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett took 5 for 45 and 6 for 37 against Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Hendren. The 11 for 82 was, and remains, one of the great Test debut performances by a wrist-spinner — a late beginning to a career that would yield 216 Test wickets.
Grimmett, small and round-shouldered, had developed an unusual sliding action that produced very low trajectory — the ball arrived flat and then turned, rather than the looping flight of Mailey or Bosanquet. His selection at 33 was forced on the Australian board by Mailey's tour-end fatigue and his own ten-wicket Sheffield Shield haul earlier in the summer.
Grimmett was born in New Zealand but had played for Sydney clubs since 1914. Repeatedly overlooked because Arthur Mailey held the Australian leg-spin slot, he had moved to Adelaide in 1923 in search of regular Sheffield Shield cricket and was finally selected for the dead-rubber fifth Test at Sydney in 1925, with Australia 4-0 up. He was 33 years old and almost out of patience with the selectors.
The Test was played in late February. Australia made 295; England replied with 167, Grimmett bowling unchanged for over two hours and finishing with 5 for 45 — Hobbs caught at point, Sutcliffe stumped, Hendren bowled. Australia made 325 in the second innings, leaving England 453. Grimmett returned figures of 6 for 37 in 19.4 overs, dismissing Sutcliffe again, plus Whysall, Chapman and Tate, as England were bowled out for 146. Australia won the Test by 307 runs and the series 4-1.
Grimmett's match figures of 11 for 82 stood at the time as the second-best by any bowler on Test debut, behind only Frederick Spofforth's 13 for 110 in 1879. He immediately became Australia's leading spinner, partnering Bill O'Reilly in the early 1930s, and remained so until his last Test in 1936. He finished with 216 wickets in 37 Tests at 24.21.
Australia 295 all out in their first innings
First innings: Grimmett 5/45 — Hobbs c point, Sutcliffe st, Hendren b
Australia 325 in their second innings
Second innings: Grimmett 6/37 in 19.4 overs
Match figures 11/82; Australia win by 307 runs
27 Feb 1925
Day 1: Australia bat first, finish 295
1 Mar 1925
Grimmett 5/45 in England's first innings
4 Mar 1925
Grimmett 6/37; Australia win by 307
“He was the most accurate bowler I ever faced. The ball did not come at you, it crept at you, and then it spun.”
Grimmett's debut at the SCG was the late, decisive arrival of one of the greatest wrist-spinners in cricket history — a man who had to wait until 33 for his Test cap and who repaid the wait inside three days.
Grimmett finished with 216 Test wickets, an Australian record at the time of his retirement. His 11 for 82 on debut remained the best by an Australian on debut until Bob Massie's 16 for 137 at Lord's in 1972. Shane Warne acknowledged Grimmett as the godfather of modern leg-spin.
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.