Jack Hobbs scored 2,697 first-class runs at 58.63 in the truncated 1914 season, including 11 centuries. He was 31, at the absolute peak of his powers, and would not play another full first-class season until 1919, by which time he was 36.
Hobbs had averaged 82.75 on the 1911-12 Ashes tour and 53.50 on the 1913-14 tour of South Africa. He was already England's first-choice opener and the leading professional batsman in the world.
Surrey were a strong side under Tom Hayward. Hobbs and Hayward formed an opening partnership that was the equal of anything in county cricket.
By August 1914 Hobbs was being talked about, even by his own team-mates, as the finest English batsman since Grace. He had averaged over 50 in the 1911-12 Ashes; in 1914 he was making the County Championship look easy. Eleven centuries in a season that was abandoned six weeks early. Surrey, who would have been favourites for the championship, had to share the title with Yorkshire's earlier lead. Then Grace's letter ended the season, and Hobbs — like every other professional — packed his bag. He was eligible for service but Surrey CCC needed his earnings to support his family; he eventually worked at the Royal Flying Corps depot at Hampstead. By the time the war ended he had lost four full seasons of his prime, between the ages of 31 and 35. Many writers — Cardus most prominently — argue Hobbs would have ended with double his eventual 197 first-class centuries had the war not come. Even with the lost years he finished with 199.
1914 season: 11 centuries, 2,697 runs at 58.63
Aug 1914: Surrey-Yorkshire chase for the title disrupted by war
1915-18: Hobbs works at the RFC Hampstead depot
1919: Returns to first-class cricket aged 36
May 1914
Surrey championship campaign begins
Jul 1914
Hobbs scores his ninth century
Aug 1914
Eleven centuries; season abandoned
1915-18
Works at RFC Hampstead depot
May 1919
Returns to Surrey, aged 36
“Had the war not come, his Test record would not be open to discussion. As it is, it is unique.”
Hobbs played first-class cricket until 1934 and remains, by total of first-class centuries (199), the most prolific century-maker in history. The lost years are the central counterfactual of his career.
Hobbs at his absolute peak, with the 1914 season cut short and four prime years stolen by the war.
The 1914 season is the high-water mark of pre-war Hobbs. His post-war career — 1919 to 1934 — produced more centuries again, but he did so playing into his fifties.
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.