It is 100 years today (august 18) since one of England’s great Ashes victories, the 1926 Oval Test. It was the final match of the series. The first four matches - all three day games - were drawn, and the ICC (then the Imperial Cricket Conference decreed that the fifth Test could be timeless so a positive result could be achieved.
On a tricky, rain-affected pitch, Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe - England’s greatest opening pair - wiped off a first innings deficit of 22 in a sensational opening stand of 172, dominated by the prolific Hobbs who made exactly 100 in 3 hours 40 minutes. Sutcliffe, the only England batsman to average over 60 in Test cricket, went on to an indomitable 161 ensuring England set Australia an impossible target of over 400. England’s 289 run victory made national heroes of the players and had a huge impact on a depressed country still dealing with the loss of 750,000 men in the Great War.
The eminent cricket writer David Frith got to know a number of the players of both sides later in their lives. He discusses the match and the characters with Simon Hughes. The video of this match with amazing Pathe footage accompanied by their conversation is on the Analyst Substack site HERE
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