Ranjitsinhji arrived in Sydney for the First Test of the 1897-98 Ashes with quinsy, lost 12 pounds in three days, and was excused from the field for the start of the match by rain. When he batted, weakened and at number seven, he made 175 in 223 minutes — then the highest Test score by an England batsman in Australia. England won the Test by nine wickets. Australia would win the rubber 4-1, but Ranji's Sydney innings is often cited as his greatest.
Ranji had completed a massive English summer in 1897 — 1,940 runs at 45.11 in the Championship — and joined Stoddart's tour at the very last moment. Stoddart himself only joined the tour after the First Test on news of his mother's death.
MacLaren won the toss after a three-day weather delay; he and Ranji had agreed Ranji would bat as low as possible. The 39 not out at the close of day one was made on instinct.
Ranji's 1897-98 winter trip began with an attack of quinsy — a quinsy abscess in the throat — that confined him to bed in the Australia Hotel for a week before the First Test. He lost 12 pounds and was widely expected to miss the match. Heavy rain delayed the start by three days; by 13 December he was well enough, just, to play.
England, captained by Archie MacLaren in Stoddart's absence, won the toss. Archie MacLaren made 109; Ranji, batting at seven because he was too weak to walk in earlier, was on 39 not out by the close of the first day, having played carefully. He woke the next morning rested. Across the second day he scored 136 more runs, mostly through cuts and leg glances — strokes that did not require the full follow-through that his weakened condition could not produce.
He was finally out for 175 with England 551 all out. The innings included 26 fours and a single six. Australia replied with 237; following on, they were dismissed for 408 (Hill 96, Iredale 84). England chased 95 for the loss of one wicket. The 175 was Ranji's highest Test score and remained the highest by an England batsman in Australia until Walter Hammond's 251 at Sydney in 1928-29.
The Sydney crowd, who had heard of his Old Trafford 154* the year before, gave Ranji a standing ovation when he reached his hundred. Australian captain Harry Trott walked from his slip position to congratulate him at the wicket.
Ranji bedridden with quinsy, loses 12 lbs in three days.
Rain delays start by three days; Ranji recovers just in time.
MacLaren 109; Ranji at seven, 39* overnight.
Day two: 136 more runs in 130 minutes.
Out 175 — highest Test score by an England batsman in Australia (until 1928-29).
England 551; Australia 237 and 408 (follow on).
England chase 95 for one; win by 9 wickets.
Australia win four of the next four Tests; series 4-1.
Early Dec 1897
Ranji bedridden with quinsy in Sydney.
10 Dec
Three-day weather delay; Ranji recovering.
13 Dec
Test begins; MacLaren 109; Ranji 39* at close.
14 Dec
Ranji to 175 in 223 min; England 551.
15-17 Dec
Australia 237 + 408; follow on.
17 Dec
England chase 95 for 1; win by 9 wickets.
“It is doubtful whether any cricketer ever played a finer innings under more difficult circumstances.”
Ranji played in all five Tests of the series despite recurring throat trouble; he averaged 50.85 with 457 runs. The Australians won the next four matches and regained the Ashes 4-1 under Harry Trott. Ranji returned to England as a national figure on both sides of the world.
Ranji's other great innings: 175 against the country that had embraced him, scored on a sickbed body. England won the Test; Australia won the series.
The 175 is often picked as Ranji's finest Test innings, narrowly above his Old Trafford 154* on debut, on the grounds of the conditions and the opposition. The bat used in the innings was donated by Ranji to the Sussex pavilion at Hove and remains there. The score remained the England-in-Australia record for 31 years.
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.