1882: The Fuse Is Lit

1882: The Fuse Is Lit

Believe it or not but there was once a time when England were unbeatable in test cricket on their own patch. Yes, admittedly they had only played one singular test match at home and indeed there were only two test playing nations but being English, we of course have to take what we can get. 

In September 1880, England saw off Australia by five wickets at The Oval. After winning the toss, captain Lord Harris sent his England team out to bat and the amassed crowd were treated to a fine exhibition. WG Grace knocked in England’s first ever test match century with a fine 152 off 294 deliveries before being bowled by Joey Palmer, Alfred ‘Bunny’ Lucas crafted 55 while captain Harris came up with 52 before he was caught by George Bonnor off the bowling of George Alexander before the home side were eventually dismissed for 420. 

The mammoth total sent the tourists into disarray and they were only able to muster a first innings total of 149 with Harry Boyle top scoring although his 36* wouldn’t have raised many smiles in the Australian camp, especially after English fast bowler Fred Morley took his country’s first five-wicket haul, recording impressive figures of 5-56 (Allan Steel accounted for three more Australian batsmen while Alfred Shaw and WG Grace took a further wicket apiece). 

A five-fer for Fred.

Following on, the tourists recovered some face from their second innings, putting on a total of 327 with skipper Billy Murdoch notching an impressive 153*. Despite the renewed Australian optimism after an improved second innings, England still only needed 57 to win from their second spell at the crease. That being said, England (as they would go on to do so many more times in their long history) made hard work of chasing down what seemed a meagre total and at one stage found themselves reduced to 31-5 before Frank Penn and WG Grace (after both his brothers Edward and Fred had been dismissed cheaply) steadied the ship with the home side eventually reaching their target after 33.3 overs. 

After a 2-0 series defeat in Australia during the controversial 1881-82 tour which was dogged by rumours of match-fixing, England were determined to continue their unbeaten record at home when the two teams met once again at The Oval. 

Featuring a number of survivors from their defeat on the same ground two years earlier, Australia won the toss and chose to bat. The tourists could be forgiven for thinking history was about to repeat itself, especially as they posted a dismal first innings total of just 63 off 80 overs. Batting on a difficult wicket, owing to significant rainfall in the days leading up to the match, wicketkeeper Jack Blackham was the highest scoring batsman with just 17 (captain Murdoch and Tom Garrett were the only other Australians to make double figures, posting scores of 13 and 10 respectively). 

That being said, it wasn’t exactly plain sailing for England either as the opening pair of Dick Barlow (who had taken 5 Australian wickets for 19 runs in the first innings) and WG Grace fell for just 11 and 4 respectively off the bowling of fast bowler Fred Spofforth. In fact, in a rather scrappy innings, only George Ulyett (26) and Maurice Read (19*) offered any sort of challenge to the Australian bowling attack as Spofforth (perhaps foreshadowing what was to come) ended the first innings with 7 English wickets, conceding just 46 runs and bowling an astonishing 18 maiden overs. The home side closed their first innings on 101. 

There were hints of an Australian revival as the first wicket pairing of Alec Bannerman and Hugh Massie put on 66 (Massie scoring a fine 55) before the dismissal of the latter (bowled by Allan Steel) triggered what threatened to be a catastrophic collapse as the tourists found themselves reduced to 79-5 before captain Murdoch came up with a desperately needed 29 to help his side end their second innings on 122, leaving England needing only 85 to win. 

It was the loss of Australia’s seventh second innings wicket that would prove to be the catalyst for the eventual result and indeed cricketing history. 21-year-old Sammy Jones innocently came out of his crease to repair a divot in the pitch assuming the ball was dead after a stroke, WG Grace had other ideas and swiftly ran the youngster out (think Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s in 2023). Incensed by the apparent gamesmanship from the game’s first box-office player, Spofforth roused his team with a speech claiming that ‘this thing can be done’ and set about his mission of dismantling England. 

You get the idea.

Captain Albert ‘Monkey’ Hornby was the first to feel Spofforth’s wrath as he fell for just 9, Dick Barlow was sent packing for a duck off the next ball before George Ulyett prevented Spofforth from taking what would have been the first ever test hat-trick. It was only a short stay of execution for Ulyett as he was soon caught behind by Jack Blackham off Spofforth’s bowling. Grace fell not long after for 32 but England were still optimistic of victory, they were still 53-4 after all. 

Spofforth wasn’t finished however and he quickly polished off England’s middle order. Poised at 66-4, the Australian bowler removed Alfred Lyttleton for 12 and sent both Allan Steel (c&b) and Maurice Read (bowled) back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers all in the space of a devastating maiden over. In his next over, Spofforth also disposed of Bunny Lucas for just 5 to record his total of 90-14, only Jim Matthews in 1912 (16-126) against South Africa betters Spofforth’s damaging numbers for Australian bowling figures in a single match. 

Reports at the time claim Fred Spofforth was chaired off the pitch at The Oval, can’t imagine many other Australians have received such an accolade in England.

By now the tension at The Oval could have been cut with a knife. England found themselves on 75-8 following Lucas’ dismissal, 10 runs adrift of their target. An innings that had started with the home side optimistic of chasing down a relatively low score suddenly fell into dismay when Harry Boyle removed Billy Barnes (caught by Murdoch) for just 2 before Ted Peate was bowled by the same bowler for the same score. 

The Oval fell silent, the unthinkable had happened. England had lost at home for the first time. 

The result sent the English press into a tailspin, players were vilified and one paper, The Sporting Times, infamously claimed that English cricket was dead and published its now legendary mock obituary. 

Ahead of the following 1882-83 tour to Australia, newly-installed England captain Ivo Bligh made it clear that his mission was to ‘recover those Ashes’. 

This was it, the fuse had been lit. Sport’s greatest rivalry had been born.