On 15-16 July 1895, the 23-year-old Archie MacLaren batted across two days at Taunton to score 424 — the first quadruple century in first-class cricket history and the highest individual first-class score the game had seen. He surpassed W.G. Grace's 1876 mark of 344, batted 470 minutes, hit 62 fours and a six, and held the world record for 28 years until Bill Ponsford's 429 in 1923. The score remained the highest in English first-class cricket until 1994.
MacLaren had been Lancashire's senior amateur batsman for several years and had already toured Australia in 1894-95 under Stoddart. Grace's 344 had stood as the first-class peak since 1876. Somerset had a depleted attack at Taunton; their leading bowlers had been hit by injuries.
Lancashire's second wicket fell at 41; MacLaren came in at three. He moved to 50 in 90 minutes, 100 in 195 minutes.
MacLaren had been playing for Lancashire for half a decade and was already England material — he would tour Australia later that winter. Somerset, a thin-attack side promoted to the Championship in 1891, had drawn the Lancashire fixture at Taunton in mid-July. Lancashire won the toss and chose to bat.
MacLaren came in at the fall of the first wicket and stayed for 470 minutes. He passed Grace's 344 in the late afternoon of day one and went on. By stumps he was on 244 not out. The next morning he resumed against an exhausted Somerset attack and added another 180. He hit 62 fours and one six (one of only a handful in his career), and was finally caught for 424. Lancashire declared at 801, and Somerset, with John Briggs taking 6 for 40, were beaten by an innings and 452.
The 424 was the first first-class quadruple century in cricket history. It surpassed Grace's 344 from 1876 by exactly 80 runs and stood as the world record until Bill Ponsford's 429 against Tasmania in February 1923. As an English first-class record it held until Brian Lara's 501* at Edgbaston in 1994. As a Lancashire record it remains in place 130 years later.
MacLaren in at 41/2; settles in afternoon of day one.
100 in 195 min; 200 in around 290 min.
Passes 300 late in day one; 244* at close.
Day two: passes Grace's 344 in early afternoon.
Out 424, caught at long-on; Lancashire declare 801.
62 fours and a six; the latter rare in his career.
Lancashire win by an innings and 452.
First-class world record for 28 years; English record for 99.
15 Jul 1895
Match begins; MacLaren in at 41/2.
15 Jul, evening
MacLaren 244* at stumps.
16 Jul, afternoon
Out 424; Lancashire declare 801.
17 Jul
Somerset twice out; Lancashire win by innings and 452.
“It seemed at the time that no one would ever score so many in a first-class match again.”
Cricket's first quadruple century, by a 23-year-old future England captain at the height of W.G. Grace's Indian summer. The record stood for nearly a century in English first-class cricket.
MacLaren's 424 is the headline first-class score of the Victorian era. It outshone Grace's 344 in the Year of Grace itself, a coincidence that gave Wisden 1896 essayist Sydney Pardon his theme of 'one age ending and another beginning.' Bill Ponsford broke it with 429 in 1923; Lara took the absolute record to 501* in 1994.
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.