Across three days at Lord's in June 1939, George Headley scored 106 and 107 against England, becoming the first batsman to make two centuries in a Test at headquarters and reasserting the case that he was, ball for ball, Bradman's only post-Hammond peer. West Indies still lost by eight wickets, but Headley's twin centuries against Bowes, Copson and Verity remained for half a century the gold standard of West Indian Test batting.
Headley had already toured England in 1933, when he scored 169* at Old Trafford, and had played in West Indies' breakthrough Test win at Bourda in 1930. By 1939 he was the senior West Indian batter, captaining his country in some matches when health permitted. He was the only Caribbean player whose Test average — by then 64 — was openly compared with Bradman's.
England won the toss and batted; Hutton 196 carried them to 404. West Indies began their reply on the second day. Headley came in at 1/29 after Stollmeyer fell early.
England, batting first, made 404 (Hutton 196). West Indies replied with 277. Headley, batting at three, made 106 in his first innings: orthodox driving, late cuts, the cover stroke that he played late and with a high front elbow. The crowd, which had come to see Hutton, stayed for him.
England declared at 5 for 128 in the second innings, setting West Indies an overnight target. Headley, walking in at 1 for 18, batted for nearly four hours and made 107. He lost partners — JET Barrow caught at slip, Stollmeyer bowled, Constantine yorked — but kept attacking, hitting 11 fours and one six. He was sixth out for 107 with the chase still hopeless; West Indies fell for 225 chasing 277. England won by eight wickets.
The twin centuries made Headley the first batsman to score two centuries in a Test at Lord's, a record Bradman never matched, and only the second to do so in a Test in England (after the same Headley in 1930 at Bourda — he had now done it on three occasions, more than anyone in history at that point). 'The Black Bradman' tag, never one Headley enjoyed, became unavoidable: Caribbean papers had taken to calling Bradman 'the white Headley.'
England 404; Hutton 196, Compton 120.
Headley 106 in WI first innings of 277.
England declare 5/128, set 277 in fourth innings.
Headley walks in at 1/18 in chase.
Reaches 100 in 220 minutes — second of the match.
Out for 107 with WI still 100 short.
First batter with twin Test centuries at Lord's.
Twin Test tons on three different occasions — record at time.
24 Jun 1939
Lord's Test begins; England 404 (Hutton 196).
26 Jun
Headley 106 in WI first innings 277.
27 Jun
England 5/128 dec; WI begin chase of 277.
27 Jun
Headley 107; WI 225 a.o.; England win by 8.
Sept 1939
WW2 begins; Headley returns to Jamaica.
“He played the off drive better than any man I ever saw.”
“If Bradman had been a black West Indian, he would have been called the white Headley.”
Headley returned to Jamaica in late 1939; the war began two months later and ended his peak years. He played one more Test in 1947-48, was made the first black West Indian Test captain (one match), and retired with a Test average of 60.83 from 22 Tests. The Lord's twin tons were his career peak.
Headley's Lord's twin centuries are the defining innings of pre-war West Indian batting and the high mark of a career that statistics, tour money and World War II combined to keep smaller than it should have been.
Headley's record as the first batter with twin Test centuries at Lord's stood until Graham Gooch's 333 and 123 against India in 1990. The Lord's honours board lists his name twice on the West Indies side — a feat only a handful of other batsmen have matched. His grandson Dean Headley would play three Tests for England in 1997-99.
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.