On 15-17 June 1899, in only his second Test match, the 21-year-old Victor Trumper played a 135 not out at Lord's that announced him as the most original batsman in cricket. Coming in at 59 for 3, he batted across two days, drove and cut Bobby Peel's spiritual heir Wilfred Rhodes through every gap, and helped Australia to an innings victory and a 1-0 Ashes lead they would not surrender. Within a year he was Australia's most-photographed sportsman.
Trumper, born 2 November 1877 in Darlinghurst, Sydney, had been a New South Wales Sheffield Shield prodigy from his late teens. Joe Darling, the new Australian captain, had insisted on his selection over more experienced state players. The 1899 tour was Trumper's first overseas trip; he had never seen Lord's before walking onto it.
Trumper had toured England in 1899 as the youngest member of Joe Darling's squad, picked partly on potential and partly because he refused all offers of a clerical career to accept the £200 tour fee. He had made 5 and 11 in the First Test at Trent Bridge — the match in which Grace played his last Test and Wilfred Rhodes his first.
Australia, batting second after England's 206, were 59 for 3 when Trumper came in. He moved through 50 in 90 minutes, then 100 from 200 balls — every accepted contemporary stroke and several that no one had seen, including a back-foot square drive to the off side that the Lord's slip cordon had not been positioned for. He went on to 135 not out from 285 balls, with Australia all out 421 a lead of 215.
England's second innings collapsed for 240 against Ernie Jones (4/76) and Monty Noble (6/60). Australia chased 28 to win for the loss of no wickets. They led 1-0; the remaining three Tests were drawn, mostly under rain, and the Ashes returned to Australia for the first time since 1891-92.
The 135* is the founding Trumper innings. The Lord's honours board carries it; the photograph that George Beldam would take of him three years later — the famous 'jumping out to drive' image — was, by Beldam's own account, posed in the spirit of this 1899 innings.
Trumper in at 59/3; conditions still helping seam.
50 in 90 min; 100 in 200 balls.
Off-driving Wilfred Rhodes through cover for repeated boundaries.
Joins Clem Hill (135) for Australia's biggest stand of the tour.
Out 135* — last man out — Australia 421.
Jones 4/76, Noble 6/60; England 240 second innings.
Australia win by 10 wickets; lead series 1-0.
Lord's honours board entry: V.T. Trumper, 135*.
15 Jun 1899
Test begins; England 206 first innings.
16 Jun
Trumper 135* lifts Australia to 421.
17 Jun
England 240 (Noble 6/60); Australia win by 10 wickets.
“He played without a thought of statistics. He played for the watcher.”
“There has never been a young player on his first tour to compare with Trumper.”
Trumper finished the 1899 tour with 1,556 first-class runs at 35.36 and earned a national reputation. He played another 47 Tests until his death from Bright's disease in 1915 aged 37. He remains the central romantic figure of Australian cricket before Bradman.
Cricket's first true modern batsman, announced. Trumper's 135* at Lord's set the template for Bradman, Tendulkar and every great Australian batsman since.
The Lord's 135* is on the honours board and in every Trumper biography. Don Bradman, who never saw Trumper bat in person, kept a copy of Beldam's 1905 photograph in his Bowral study. Neville Cardus called Trumper 'the cricketer who first wore the colours of art on the field.' The 135* is the source.
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.