Through the early 1900s K.S. Ranjitsinhji captained Sussex (1899-1903), played 15 Tests for England, and continued to redefine batting through the leg glance. In March 1907 he succeeded as Jam Sahib of Nawanagar and effectively withdrew from full-time first-class cricket. He returned briefly in 1908 and 1912 but his Sussex career was over by the time he became a ruler.
Ranjitsinhji's accession to the Nawanagar throne was contested for years. He claimed adoption by the previous Jam Sahib; rivals contested it. The British political agency in Kathiawar eventually ruled in his favour in 1907, and he was installed as Jam Sahib in March of that year.
His cricketing peak had come in the late 1890s; by the early 1900s injuries (notably a serious eye injury in 1915 from a hunting accident, much later) and political duties were intervening. The 1900-04 seasons saw him still average over 50 in first-class cricket, but the Test selection had stopped.
Ranji had a difficult relationship with English cricket politics — he was kept out of the 1899 Test team for one game by Lord Hawke's interventions — but his individual record was beyond dispute. By 1900 he was the most famous batsman in England.
Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, born in 1872 to a minor branch of the ruling family of Nawanagar, came to England in 1888 and to Cambridge in 1889. He played for Sussex from 1895 and at his peak (1899-1900) scored over 3,000 first-class runs in successive seasons. By the start of the 1900s he was already cricket's first global superstar — an Indian prince in the heart of English county cricket, scoring runs that no contemporary could match.
The early 1900s were Ranjitsinhji's captaincy years at Sussex (1899-1903), with his great friend C.B. Fry as the senior batsman alongside him. He played 15 Tests for England between 1896 and 1902, scoring 989 runs at 44.95 — including 154* on debut at Old Trafford and 175 at Sydney in 1897-98. By 1902 his Test career was effectively done; the politics of his Indian succession were beginning to absorb him.
In 1903 he stepped down from the Sussex captaincy. He continued to play for the county through 1904, then returned briefly in 1908 (after his accession) and 1912. His leg glance — a stroke he had perfected at Cambridge — became one of the most studied techniques in cricket, copied by every Edwardian batsman who could manage it. C.B. Fry called it 'the most original stroke ever played'. Ranjitsinhji died in 1933, having been Jam Sahib for 26 years.
1899-1903: Sussex captain; over 3,000 first-class runs in 1899 and 1900.
1900: Scores 222 v Somerset at Hove.
1902: Last Test for England — 13 v Australia at Sheffield.
1903: Stands down from Sussex captaincy.
March 1907: Installed as Jam Sahib of Nawanagar.
1908: Brief return to Sussex cricket.
1912: Final first-class season; injuries and politics end the career.
1933: Dies aged 60.
10 Sep 1872
Ranjitsinhji born in Sarodar, Kathiawar.
1889
Enters Trinity College, Cambridge.
1895
First-class debut for Sussex.
1896
Test debut at Old Trafford — 154* in second innings.
1899-1903
Sussex captain.
1902
Last Test for England.
March 1907
Becomes Jam Sahib of Nawanagar.
2 April 1933
Dies in Jamnagar.
“He moved as if he had no bones.”
“The first batsman of pure originality I have seen.”
As Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, Ranjitsinhji modernised his small state, hosting the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1928, attending the League of Nations as an Indian representative, and creating an image of cricketing royalty that nephew Duleepsinhji and grandson (in cricketing terms) Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi would inherit.
The Ranji Trophy, India's domestic first-class competition since 1934-35, was named for him by his nephew Duleepsinhji and the BCCI in 1934, the year after his death.
A career that linked the Indian princely world to the English county game and made Indian cricket visible in Britain a generation before Test status arrived. The leg glance, the on-side technique, the wristwork — all became templates for batting; the personal example, an Indian prince welcomed in English first-class cricket, was a singular cultural fact.
Ranjitsinhji's place in cricket history has two strands: the cricketing innovation (the leg glance, the on-side game, batting wristwork) and the cultural fact (an Indian prince at the centre of English cricket). Both were significant.
Neville Cardus called him 'the first batsman of pure originality I have seen'. C.B. Fry was more practical: 'He moved as if he had no bones.' The Ranji Trophy preserves his name in modern Indian cricket; the Hove pavilion has his portrait.
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.