England, Australia
1902-07-26
The fourth Ashes Test of 1902 at Old Trafford was won by Australia by just three runs, the narrowest margin in Ashes history until 2005. Sussex bowler Fred Tate, drafted in for his only Test, dropped a key catch off Joe Darling at square leg and was last man out, bowled by Saunders for four. The match defined his life: he was forever known for 'Fred Tate's Test'.
England, Australia
1902-08-13
Set 263 to win and tottering at 48 for 5, England were rescued by Gilbert Jessop, whose 104 in 75 minutes — with his 50 in 43 minutes — remains one of the fastest and most consequential innings in Test history. George Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes saw England home by one wicket, immortalising the (probably apocryphal) 'we'll get them in singles' exchange.
Australia, England
1902-07-24
On the rain-affected opening morning of the fourth Ashes Test of 1902, Victor Trumper drove, cut and pulled the England attack to ribbons, reaching 103 not out by lunch — the first century before lunch on day one of a Test match. Wisden, MacLaren and a generation of cricket writers would describe it as among the finest innings ever played.
England, Australia
1902-08-13
When Bill Lockwood was bowled at 248 for 9 in England's chase of 263 at The Oval on 13 August 1902, Wilfred Rhodes joined his Yorkshire team-mate George Hirst with 15 runs still required against Trumble, Saunders and Noble. The two professionals from Kirkheaton edged, deflected and sometimes simply blocked their way to a one-wicket win — the foundation of perhaps cricket's most famous (and most disputed) quotation, 'we'll get them in singles'.
Australia, England
1902-09-01
Jack Saunders, the left-arm spin bowler from Victoria, took 123 first-class wickets at 16.95 on the 1902 tour of England — bowling alongside Hugh Trumble in the side that won the Ashes 2-1. Saunders bowled the last ball of Fred Tate's Test at Old Trafford and was Australia's leading wicket-taker on the tour after Trumble.
England, Australia
1902-05-29
On 29 May 1902 at Edgbaston, on a damp pitch, Wilfred Rhodes (7 for 17) and George Hirst (3 for 15) bowled Australia out for 36 — for almost a century the lowest total in Test cricket. The remarkable bowling, taking 90 minutes, is part of the Edgbaston Test legend; the match was eventually drawn after a thunderstorm washed out two days.
Australia, England, South Africa
1902-08-13
South Australian left-hander Clem Hill, in 1902, scored 1,061 Test runs across the Ashes series in England and the immediately following series in South Africa — becoming the first batsman to make 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year. The record was not equalled until Don Bradman's 1948.
England, Australia
1902-05-29
Before Wilfred Rhodes and George Hirst rolled Australia for 36 at Edgbaston on 29 May 1902, the day's foundation had been laid by Johnny Tyldesley's 138 in four and a half hours — an innings that took England to 376 for 9 declared. Tyldesley, the Lancashire professional, was at the height of his powers; the innings is sometimes overlooked because of what followed in the afternoon.