On 2 January 1879, in only the third Test ever played, Fred Spofforth took the first hat-trick in Test cricket — Vernon Royle bowled, Francis MacKinnon bowled, Tom Emmett lbw — at the MCG. He finished the innings with 6 for 48 and the match with 13 wickets for 110 runs, an Australian win by 10 wickets, and an early sketch of the Demon Bowler legend that would mature at The Oval three years later.
The 1878-79 English tour was led by Lord Harris. Only one Test was scheduled. The match began with England 113 in their first innings; Spofforth took 6/48.
The match began on Australia Day weekend 1879 between a touring Lord Harris XI and Australia. Spofforth, then 25, had missed the very first Test in 1877 over a wicketkeeper-selection dispute and made his Test debut in this game.
In England's first innings he ran through the middle order. The hat-trick fell on the second day: Royle was bowled, MacKinnon was bowled, and Tom Emmett — the Yorkshire fast bowler batting at number 9 — was given out lbw to make it three in three balls. Spofforth's match figures were 6/48 and 7/62. Australia won by 10 wickets.
It was the only Test match of the entire 1878-79 season, and the only Test Spofforth played for nearly two years (because of the 1879 Sydney Riot diplomatic fallout, which postponed the next Australian tour to England). The hat-trick was the start of Spofforth's habit of mid-innings devastation that would peak at The Oval in 1882.
The other detail: Spofforth's lbw to Emmett was given by umpire George Coulthard — the same umpire who, weeks later in Sydney, would precipitate the cricket riot.
Royle bowled — first ball of the hat-trick.
MacKinnon bowled — second ball.
Tom Emmett lbw — third ball, first Test hat-trick.
Spofforth 6/48 first innings.
England 160 second innings; Spofforth 7/62.
Match figures 13/110.
Australia win by 10 wickets.
2 Jan 1879
Test begins; England 113 (Spofforth 6/48).
3 Jan 1879
Spofforth's hat-trick: Royle, MacKinnon, Emmett.
4 Jan 1879
Australia win by 10 wickets.
8 Feb 1879
Sydney Riot; Coulthard at centre of next storm.
“An exhibition of bowling such as no one in Melbourne can previously have seen.”
Spofforth went on to take his famous 14/90 at The Oval in 1882. Coulthard, who umpired the lbw, would within five weeks be at the centre of the Sydney Riot. Royle, MacKinnon and Emmett never played another Test in Australia.
The Spofforth hat-trick remained the only one in Tests until Billy Bates in 1883 (the first by an England bowler).
The first hat-trick in Test cricket, taken by the man who would later define what Test fast bowling looked like.
Spofforth's 1879 hat-trick is the foundational hat-trick in Test cricket — every later one (Briggs, Hugh Trumble, Wilfred Rhodes, Hugh Tayfield, Wasim Akram, Hat-trick of hat-tricks etc.) traces back to it. The MCG plaque commemorating the inaugural Test of 1877 also notes the 1879 hat-trick.
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.