Spofforth's 14 for 90 — The Demon at The Oval, 1882

Spofforth had been Australia's strike bowler since the inaugural Test of 1877. He missed the very first match through a dispute over wicketkeeper selection but made his Test debut in the second match in 1878-79 with a hat-trick. By 1882 he was the best-known bowler in the world and the centrepiece of Murdoch's tour.

The Oval pitch was wet from late-August rain, partly drying through the second day. Spofforth's medium-fast cutters were ideally suited to the surface; his ability to change pace without changing action repeatedly deceived English batsmen who could read Boyle but not him.

Australia's 122 in the second innings had given England a target of only 85 — comfortable, on paper. Hornby and Barlow opened. Hornby fell quickly. Grace and Ulyett took the score to 51/2. Lucas joined Grace and the chase looked routine.

Spofforth had already taken 7 for 46 in England's first innings, but the spell that made him immortal came in the chase. England were 51 for 2, needing only 34 more, when Spofforth — by his own later account — turned to Murdoch and said, 'this thing can be done.' What followed was a 28-over spell of cutters, change-ups and the occasional fast yorker that pulled the match back over the course of about an hour. He bowled unchanged from one end while Boyle bowled unchanged from the other.

Spofforth was tall, gaunt, with a flapping run-up and a stare that contemporaries said was almost theatrical. He had been the first bowler to take a hat-trick in Test cricket (Melbourne, 1879) and had already toured England in 1878 (the Lord's match against MCC remains one of his calling cards). But the 1882 spell at The Oval is the one that fixed his nickname in the language. Lucas, Lyttelton, Steel, Read and Studd all fell to him in the second innings; Boyle picked off Barnes, Barlow and finally Peate.

His match figures of 14 for 90 stood as the Test record until SF Barnes took 17 for 159 against South Africa at Johannesburg in December 1913. They remain the best match figures in any Ashes Test, and Spofforth's name still leads the all-time bowling tables for the 19th century.

“This thing can be done.”

“He was a man of extraordinary nervous energy and his very appearance — his great height, his long arms, his glittering eyes — was calculated to disturb the batsman.”

Spofforth went home a national hero. He continued to play for Australia until 1887 and finished with 94 Test wickets at 18.41 — astonishing efficiency for the era. He emigrated to England in 1888, married into the wealthy Cadbury family circle, and lived out his life as a director of a tea company in Surrey. He died in Long Ditton in 1926.

The 1882 match also reshaped English thinking about Australian cricket. Whatever residual condescension survived the 1877 defeat at Melbourne was finished by Spofforth at The Oval. From this point on, Australia were treated as full equals on the field.