Jack Hobbs returned to first-class cricket in May 1919, aged 36 after a four-year war-imposed break, and immediately scored 2,594 runs at 60.32 in the experimental two-day season — confirming that the world's leading batsman had picked up exactly where he had left off in 1914.
Hobbs had been at his peak in 1914 with 11 centuries. The four-year break had taken him from 31 to 35.
He returned to Surrey for pre-season practice in April 1919. By the first match in May he was already in form.
Hobbs had spent the war working at the Royal Flying Corps depot at Hampstead, playing only occasional charity matches. He had not played first-class cricket since August 1914. When the County Championship resumed in May 1919 he was 36 and many wondered whether he could still play to his pre-war level. The answer came quickly. He scored 2,594 first-class runs at 60.32, with eight centuries — including a 205 against Yorkshire at Lord's in the Triangular Roses match. Surrey, captained by C.T.A. Wilkinson, finished second in the championship behind Yorkshire. Hobbs's batting was slightly slower than before — he was thirty-six, not twenty-eight — but the technique was unchanged. The 1919 season was the launchpad for the 1920s, in which Hobbs scored 132 of his 197 first-class centuries and confirmed his rank as the greatest batsman of his generation.
May 1919: First match back, scores 50 in opening innings
Mid-summer: Scores 205 v Yorkshire
Aug 1919: Eight centuries in the season
Sep 1919: Final tally 2,594 runs at 60.32
May 1919
First post-war match for Surrey
Jul 1919
205 v Yorkshire
Sep 1919
Season ends with 2,594 runs at 60.32
“If anything, Jack came back better than he went away.”
Hobbs was selected for the 1920-21 tour of Australia. His Test career ran for another decade and a half.
A 36-year-old returning batsman scoring 2,594 runs in his first post-war season — Hobbs's career picked up exactly where the war had interrupted it.
The 1919 season is the bridge between Hobbs the pre-war prodigy and Hobbs the dominant 1920s figure. The continuity over a four-year break is unique among great batsmen of the era.
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.