Hindus v MCC
1926-12-01
On a December afternoon in 1926, the 31-year-old C.K. Nayudu hit eleven sixes in an innings of 153 against the touring MCC at the Bombay Gymkhana. Watched by Arthur Gilligan and an emotional crowd of 50,000, the innings is regarded as the single performance that secured India's case for Test status — granted three years later.
England v Australia
1926-08-14
In June, July and August 1926 the 40-year-old Charlie Macartney made centuries in three successive Tests against England — 133 at Lord's, 151 at Headingley (where he reached 100 before lunch on the first morning), and 109 at Old Trafford. He was only the second man in Ashes history to score hundreds in three consecutive Tests.
England v Australia
1926-08-18
Recalled to the England side aged 48 years and 165 days, Wilfred Rhodes took 4 for 44 in Australia's second innings at the Oval in August 1926, helping to win England's first Ashes series since 1912. He remains the oldest man ever to play Test cricket.
England v Australia
1926-08-16
On the third morning of the fifth Test of 1926, after overnight thunderstorms had turned the Oval pitch into one of the most treacherous in Test history, Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe added 172 for the first wicket — Hobbs 100, Sutcliffe 161 — in an innings widely regarded as the finest piece of opening batting in cricket.
Women's Cricket Association
1926-10-04
On 4 October 1926, at a women's cricket week at Colwall in the Malvern Hills, 70 players agreed to form the Women's Cricket Association — the first national governing body for women's cricket in any country. Within nine years the WCA had organised the first women's Test, between England and Australia at Brisbane in December 1934.
Australia and English county opposition
1926-07-15
From 1921 onward, the Sydney crowds called Charlie Macartney 'The Governor-General' for the way he batted as if owning the ground. The nickname stuck across cricket and was the source of dozens of contemporary one-liners — including his much-quoted aside to a slip fielder before destroying him for six.
MCC and Indian XI
1926-11-15
Arthur Gilligan's MCC side toured India in the winter of 1926-27 — the formal trial of Indian cricket for Test status. Across 31 first-class and other matches the tourists played the major Indian XIs, watched the leading players, and on Gilligan's return the recommendation that India be granted Test status went to Lord's.