Montague 'Monty' Noble played 42 Tests for Australia between 1898 and 1909, captaining 15 of them and winning eight. A medium-paced bowler whose 'spin-swerve' (an early form of off-cutting in-swinger) and a top-order batsman, he scored 1,997 Test runs at 30.25 and took 121 Test wickets at 25. He led Australia to the Ashes win at home in 1907-08 and the away win in 1909.
Noble worked as a dentist in Sydney for most of his cricket career — one of several Australian Test cricketers of the period who held professional jobs alongside playing. He was tall (6 ft 2 in), strong, and notably calm under pressure.
His Test debut came against Andrew Stoddart's English side in 1898; he was an immediate success.
Noble's first captaincy series, 1903-04 against Plum Warner's England, was lost 3-2. He stood down for 1905 (Joe Darling captain) but resumed in 1907-08.
Monty Noble, born in Sydney in 1873, was Australia's first true all-rounder of the Test era and one of the country's most respected captains. He made his Test debut in 1898 at age 24 and played until 1909, with 42 Tests, 1,997 runs at 30.25 (one century, 13 fifties) and 121 wickets at 25.00. His career first-class total of 13,975 runs at 40.74 and 624 wickets at 23.12 marks him as one of the era's most complete cricketers.
Noble's bowling was unusual: a medium pace with what contemporaries called the 'spin-swerve' — a delivery that swung in late and then cut off the seam. It was an early form of the off-cutter or in-swinger, and on damp pitches he was practically unplayable. His career-best Test figures of 13 for 77 (7-17 and 6-60) at Melbourne in March 1902 were almost a sole-handed bowling performance.
Noble captained Australia in 15 Tests across two periods: a frustrating first stint in 1903-04 (lost 3-2 to Plum Warner's England) and a triumphant later one in 1907-08 (won 4-1) and 1909 in England (won 2-1). He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1900 and is honoured by the Monty Noble Stand at the SCG. He died in 1940.
Test debut, 1898 — immediate success.
1900: Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
Mar 1902, Melbourne: 13/77 v England — career-best Test bowling.
1902: 284 v Sussex at Hove (with Armstrong's 285*) — world record sixth-wicket stand.
1903-04 series: captain, lost 3-2.
1907-08 home Ashes: captain, won 4-1.
1909 Ashes in England: captain, won 2-1.
Career: 42 Tests, 1,997 runs, 121 wickets — first to do the Test 1,000 runs / 100 wickets double in 27 Tests.
28 Jan 1873
Noble born in Sydney.
1898
Test debut v England.
1900
Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
Mar 1902
13/77 v England at Melbourne.
1903-04
First captaincy series — lost 3-2.
1907-08
Captains Australia to 4-1 Ashes win.
1909
Captains Australia to 2-1 Ashes win in England.
22 June 1940
Dies in Sydney aged 67.
“The most complete player of the late 1800s and early 1900s.”
Noble retired from Test cricket after 1909 and from first-class cricket in 1919. He worked as a dentist, wrote occasionally on cricket, and served as a NSW selector through the 1920s.
He declined the Australian captaincy when offered again in 1912 (the Big Six year), preferring not to be drawn into the dispute. He died in 1940 aged 67.
A model captain and all-rounder of the Edwardian Australian side. Noble was 'the most complete player' of the era according to ESPNCricinfo, combining batting, bowling, leadership, and quietly authoritative personality in a way that few peers could match.
Noble's place in Australian cricket history is partly statistical (the first cricketer to do the 1,000-runs / 100-wickets Test double) and partly cultural — he set the template for the calm, technically capable Australian captain that Hill, Armstrong, Bradman and Benaud all in their different ways inherited.
The Monty Noble Stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground, opened in 1936, was renamed the M.A. Noble Stand in 1979.
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.