W.G. Grace, the most famous batsman in the world, was clean-bowled by Fred Spofforth for 4 at Lord's on 27 May 1878. The dismissal — among the most famous of the 19th century — fixed Spofforth's reputation and shocked the English cricket establishment, which had assumed the touring Australians would be no match for MCC's strongest XI.
MCC won the toss and elected to bat. Grace came in at first wicket down with the score on 27. Spofforth, who had bowled to him only briefly in colonial fixtures five years earlier, was at the Pavilion End.
Grace was 29, the runaway champion of English cricket, and the principal reason MCC believed they would win the match in a few hours. The pitch was soft after overnight rain. Spofforth, opening the bowling, was unusually quick from the off. With Grace newly at the crease, Spofforth produced a fast, full, slightly angled delivery that beat Grace's defensive push and clipped the off stump. The bails flew. Spofforth, by Horan's account, leapt two feet in the air. Grace walked off without a word. He was the highest-profile victim of the spell that became 6/4 in 5.3 overs and that broke MCC for 33. The dismissal is a touchstone moment in 19th-century cricket: the moment the world's best batsman was visibly outmatched by a colonial bowler. Grace would have a long cricketing rivalry with Spofforth thereafter and was bowled by him several more times in the 1880s, but no later wicket carried the symbolic weight of the Lord's duck.
Grace comes in at 27/1
Spofforth's first ball beats him outside off
Second ball bowls him through the gate
Spofforth leaps in air; bails fly
Grace walks off for 4
Morning, 27 May 1878
MCC 27/1 when Grace walks in
First over from Spofforth
Grace bowled for 4
Same day
MCC 33 all out; Australia win by 9 wickets
“The hero of English cricket walked off without a word, his stumps in disarray.”
Grace's failure helped MCC collapse for 33 and lose the match the same day. He took the dismissal in good humour publicly but was widely reported to have been deeply embarrassed. He met Spofforth several times in the rest of the 1878 summer and made peace with him over a beer at the Oval in late August.
The dismissal that announced the international era — Grace bowled Spofforth, Lord's, 27 May 1878.
The Grace-Spofforth dismissal at Lord's is one of cricket's foundational symbolic moments. It marks the point at which English cricket realised it could no longer treat Australian sides as second-rate opposition — and it gave Spofforth the fame that took him to the heart of the Ashes story four years later.
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.