Kent won the County Championship in 1909, 1910 and 1913 — three titles in five seasons, built on the bowling of Colin Blythe and Arthur Fielder, the batting of Frank Woolley and Ken Hutchings, and the wicket-keeping of Fred Huish. The pre-war Kent side is widely regarded as the strongest in the county's history.
Kent had been a strong second-tier county through the late Victorian era. The arrival of Blythe in 1899 and the maturity of Woolley by 1908 transformed them.
The 1913 season was Kent's strongest. Blythe took 167 first-class wickets, Woolley scored 1,800 runs.
Kent's golden age began with their first championship in 1906 and ran through to 1913. The bowling pair of Blythe (slow left-arm) and Fielder (fast-medium) was unmatched in any other county. Woolley and Hutchings provided the batting style, with Wally Hardinge as the more conservative anchor. Fred Huish behind the stumps was the leading wicketkeeper of the era. The 1913 title was the pinnacle: Kent won 20 of their 28 matches and the championship was effectively decided by the end of August. Within twelve months the war had begun. Hutchings was killed at Ginchy in 1916; Blythe at Passchendaele in 1917. Of the 1913 championship side, three were dead by 1918. Kent would not win another championship until 1970.
1906: First Kent championship
1909: Second title
1910: Third title
1913: Fourth title
1916: Hutchings killed at Ginchy
1917: Blythe killed at Passchendaele
1906
First Kent championship
1909, 1910, 1913
Three more titles in five years
1914
Last pre-war season
1917
Blythe killed; Kent's bowling heart gone
“Kent before the war were a side complete in every department.”
Kent's 1919 side was a shadow of the pre-war team. They would not win another title for 57 years.
Three championships in five seasons by a side that would be torn apart by the war — the high point of Kent cricket.
The pre-war Kent of 1906-1913 remains the most successful sustained period in the county's history. The St Lawrence ground at Canterbury still has the Blythe memorial dedicated in 1919.
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.