Set 263 to win and tottering at 48 for 5, England were rescued by Gilbert Jessop, whose 104 in 75 minutes — with his 50 in 43 minutes — remains one of the fastest and most consequential innings in Test history. George Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes saw England home by one wicket, immortalising the (probably apocryphal) 'we'll get them in singles' exchange.
England had lost the Old Trafford Test by three runs and with it the Ashes. With Saunders, Trumble and Armstrong all in form, Australia were heavy favourites at The Oval. England had been forced into changes, recalling Jessop and bringing back Wilfred Rhodes after his Old Trafford appearance. Trumble's eight-wicket haul in the first three innings looked decisive; few in the ground gave England a chance after their 183 first innings.
The pitch was wearing but not unplayable; the difficulty was the Australian attack and the scoreboard pressure. The Oval crowd of about 18,000 had largely come to witness a final Australian flourish.
MacLaren and Palairet were both gone cheaply on day three; by mid-afternoon England were tottering. Tyldesley, Lilley and Braund all fell, and at 48 for 5 the match looked lost. Then Jessop strode out.
After Australia had retained the Ashes at Old Trafford, the fifth Test at The Oval on 11-13 August 1902 was a dead rubber for the urn but a live one for English pride. Australia made 324, with Hugh Trumble taking 8 wickets in the match, before England replied with only 183. Set 263 to win on a wearing surface, England were 48 for 5 with the series and the summer slipping away.
What followed was Gilbert Laird Jessop's defining innings. Jessop, the Gloucestershire amateur known as 'The Croucher' for his low stance, walked in and immediately counterattacked Trumble, Saunders and Noble. He reached fifty in 43 minutes and his hundred in 75, eventually dismissed for 104 in 77 minutes — an innings containing seventeen fours and an all-run five. Wisden recorded that the crowd 'cheered him to the echo' as he left.
He still left England needing 76 with three wickets in hand. George Hirst and Bill Lockwood added 27 before Lockwood went, and at 248 for 9 Wilfred Rhodes joined Hirst with 15 runs still needed. Their stand of 15 unbeaten runs delivered England a one-wicket victory that has been talked about for over 120 years. The famous exchange — Hirst supposedly saying 'We'll get them in singles, Wilfred' — was denied by both men in later years, but the legend endures.
Trumble bowls Australia to a 141-run lead, taking 8 wickets in the match.
England slump to 48/5 chasing 263.
Jessop reaches fifty in 43 minutes.
Jessop reaches his hundred in 75 minutes — the fastest in Tests at the time.
Jessop dismissed for 104 in 77 minutes; 17 fours and an all-run five.
Lockwood out at 248/9, England still need 15.
Rhodes joins Hirst, the famous 'singles' exchange (denied later).
England win by one wicket; the crowd invades the field.
11 Aug 1902
Australia bat first, make 324.
12 Aug 1902
England 183 all out; Trumble takes wickets.
13 Aug 1902, lunch
England 48/5 chasing 263.
Afternoon
Jessop comes in, attacks immediately.
Tea-time
Jessop 100 in 75 minutes.
After tea
Jessop out for 104 in 77 minutes.
Late afternoon
Lockwood out at 248/9.
Final overs
Hirst and Rhodes get the 15 runs; England win by one wicket.
“We never said anything of the kind.”
“He cheered him to the echo.”
Jessop's innings transformed his already considerable reputation into legend. He was reported to have walked from the field to a roar that 'lifted the pavilion roof'. Hirst returned home to Huddersfield to find the streets lined; Rhodes, characteristically reticent, said little. Australia's tour ended with the Ashes safely retained, but the memory of the final Test belonged to England.
The one-wicket margin remains one of only six such in Ashes history, and the chase of 263 was for many decades the highest fourth-innings winning total at The Oval.
A near-miraculous chase that rescued the summer if not the series. Jessop's innings remained, for over a century, the gold standard for fast Test centuries; Hirst and Rhodes' nerveless last-wicket stand became the touchstone for Yorkshire grit.
'Jessop's Match' became a fixture in cricket anthologies, retold by Cardus, Arlott and successive Wisden writers. The innings stood as the fastest Test century by minutes for nearly 75 years, until Viv Richards' 56-ball hundred against England in 1986 broke the balls-faced record (Jessop's balls-faced figure is uncertain but is generally given as around 76).
The Hirst-Rhodes 'singles' line, although disputed, became part of cricket's oral tradition. Rhodes denied it categorically in interviews, telling Cardus: 'We never said anything of the kind.' Hirst's response when pressed was the more diplomatic 'I don't recollect.' The legend, of course, outlived both men.
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.