On 17 July 1888, the second day of the first Test at Lord's, 27 wickets fell — a single-day Test record that has stood for 138 years. England were dismissed for 53 in 55 minutes, Australia for 60, England for 62 — three full innings inside one day's play, on a Lord's pitch baked then drenched. Australia won the match by 61 runs.
The 1888 Australian touring side was built around Turner and Ferris, the bowling pair Wisden later named among its first ever Cricketers of the Year. England's bowlers Lohmann, Peel, Briggs and Barnes were equally dangerous. The summer was wet; pitches were uncovered; conditions were a bowler's paradise.
Australia batted first and were 35/4 at stumps on day one. Day two began with the pitch drying after overnight rain — a classic 1880s sticky wicket.
Australia had begun the match the previous afternoon and were already 35/4 at stumps. On the Tuesday morning they slumped to 116 all out. England then crumbled in 55 minutes for 53, Briggs top-scoring with 17. Bowling for Australia, Charlie Turner took 5 for 27 and JJ Ferris 5 for 26 — the partnership that had ravaged English batting all season.
Australia's second innings was the briefest collapse of the lot: 60 all out, with Bobby Peel taking 4/14 and George Lohmann 2/24. England, set 124 to win, were dismissed for 62 — Turner 5/36, Ferris 5/26 again. Total: 27 wickets between morning and stumps.
The match itself was over by lunch on day three. Australia won by 61 runs. The aggregate score for the entire match — 291 runs — remains one of the lowest in Test cricket. The 27-wickets-in-a-day mark has only been seriously challenged twice since: 25 wickets at Old Trafford in 1888 (the next match in this very series), and 25 at Headingley in 1961.
End of day one: Australia 35/4.
Day two morning: Australia all out 116.
England 53 in 55 minutes; Turner 5/27, Ferris 5/26.
Australia 60 second innings; Peel 4/14.
England 62 chasing 124; Turner 5/36.
27 wickets fall on day two — a Test record.
Australia win by 61 runs; match over by lunch day three.
Match aggregate 291 — one of lowest in Test history.
16 Jul 1888
Test begins; Australia 35/4 at stumps.
17 Jul, morning
Australia 116; England 53 in 55 minutes.
17 Jul, afternoon
Australia 60; England 62 chasing 124.
17 Jul, close
27 wickets fallen on day two.
18 Jul
Match over; Australia win by 61 runs.
“I cannot remember a Test more thoroughly governed by the wicket.”
The 1888 series went on to produce more wicket-fests on uncovered pitches; England came back to win 2-1, with Lohmann and Peel running through Australia at Old Trafford and The Oval. Turner finished the English summer with 283 first-class wickets — a record for a touring bowler.
Lord's, having hosted only its second Test, established its reputation as a ground that could swing wildly with the weather; it would happen again in 1934 with Verity's 14-wicket day.
The most explosive day's wicket-taking in Test history — 27 wickets, three completed innings, and a Lord's pitch that rewrote the bowling record book.
The 27-wickets-in-a-day record has stood since 1888. It is now used in cricket-statistical contests as the benchmark of how much could go wrong in a single day's Test cricket. Turner and Ferris together took 18 of the 27 wickets — a tag-team performance unmatched since.
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.