On 6 September 1880, in the very first Test match played in England, the 32-year-old WG Grace opened the innings with his elder brother EM and went on to score 152 — the first Test century by an England batsman, on debut and on home soil. England won by five wickets. The Grace family's three brothers (WG, EM and GF) all played, the only time three brothers have appeared together in a Test match.
England had hosted Australian touring sides since 1878 but had played only exhibition matches against them. The Sydney crowd riot during Lord Harris's 1879 tour had soured relations and made an English Test fixture politically delicate. CW Alcock, secretary of Surrey CCC and editor of Cricket: A Weekly Record, eventually brokered the September 1880 match.
WG Grace had toured Australia in 1873-74 and 1891-92 but had not played in the inaugural 1877 Tests. By 1880 he was already a national institution: Gloucestershire captain, MCC member, and box-office draw whose name on a fixture poster could double the attendance.
The Australians arrived at The Oval underprepared and without Spofforth. England fielded a strong XI under Lord Harris's captaincy. The pitch was good and the weather warm. Grace and EM walked out at the start to a crowd of around 20,000.
The match had been pulled together at six weeks' notice. Lord Harris, who was managing England's interests, had refused for years to play the touring Australians under Test conditions; only the August 1880 collapse of the planned fixture list — and pressure from CW Alcock at The Oval — produced the game.
WG Grace had not played a Test before, although he had captained representative sides against the Australians in 1878. Aged 32, he was already the most famous cricketer in the world. Walking out to open with his elder brother EM, he batted three hours fifty-five minutes for 152 from 294 balls, dominating a partnership of 91 with EM and a further stand with AP Lucas. England were dismissed for 420.
Australia, missing Spofforth (injured), made 149 in their first innings. Following on, they were rescued by an extraordinary 153 not out from Billy Murdoch — at the time the highest individual Test score, and made on his 25th birthday. Set 57 to win, England got there for the loss of five wickets, the wickets falling to nerves rather than bowling.
WG's 152 was the first century by an England batsman in a Test, the first century by anyone in a Test in England, and the foundation of an England win that should, in another reality, have been the start of regular home Tests. As it happened, the next Test in England would not come until 1882, two years away.
WG and EM Grace open the batting; first Test in England begins.
WG 152 in 294 balls, 3h 55m — first Test century on English soil.
England all out 420.
Australia 149 first innings; follow on.
Murdoch 153* on his 25th birthday — then highest Test score.
GF Grace runs 115 yards to catch Bonnor on the boundary off Shaw.
England chase 57 for the loss of 5 wickets to win.
Three Grace brothers play together — only time in Test history.
6 Sep 1880
First Test in England begins; WG and EM open.
6 Sep, evening
WG 152, England 410/8 at close.
7 Sep
England 420; Australia bowled out for 149, follow on.
7 Sep, late
Murdoch 153* — Test record on his 25th birthday.
8 Sep
England chase 57 for 5 wickets; win the match.
22 Sep 1880
GF Grace dies of pneumonia, age 29.
“My heart stopped beating as I went on waiting for the ball to come.”
“Between 1870 and 1880, Shaw was perhaps the best bowler in England.”
GF Grace caught a chill during the match, returned to the Bristol area, and died of pneumonia on 22 September — exactly two weeks after the Test ended. He was 29. The match thus carries one of the most poignant family stories in Test history: the only Test in which three brothers appeared, the youngest of whom was dead within a fortnight.
Murdoch's 153* would stand as the Test record until Tip Foster's 287 at Sydney in 1903. Grace's 152, while not the global record (Charles Bannerman's 165* from 1877 still held), was the start of an England century-making tradition that runs through to the present day.
The innings that legitimised Test cricket in England — Grace, on debut, on home soil, against Australia, in a Test that began the modern home international calendar.
The 1880 Test established that Tests would be played in England as well as Australia. Grace's 152 sits at the head of every list of England Test centurions — by date, by chronology, by scorecard. The catch by GF Grace, the death two weeks later, and the brothers' joint appearance turn what could have been a routine home win into one of the most emotionally weighted matches of the 19th century.
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.