Trivia on Test cricket - Pre-1900s: Part 1

Did you know?

- Australian Charles Bannerman, faced the first ball in Test cricket off the bowling of England's Alfred Shaw in Melbourne on 15 March 1877 at 1:05 pm. The first run came off the second ball of the over.

- Charles Bannerman, who has the distinction of being the first batsman to score a Test hundred (165) had to retire hurt when a rising ball from England's George Ulyett split the second finger of his right hand. He thus became the first Test player to be injured on a cricket field. This incident took place on the second day (16-3-1877) of the first-ever Test match at Melbourne. 

- Charles Bannerman was injured after scoring a hundred (165) against England at Melbourne in March 1877, W Newing, a professional with the Melbourne CC fielded as a substitute. He thus became Test cricket's first substitute. Incidentally Newing never ever appeared in a first-class game.

- In the first-ever Test match between Australia and England at Melbourne, the former won by 45 runs on 19 March 1877. One hundred years later this result and its margin were exactly emulated on the same ground between the same teams in the Centenary Test match of 1977 (played from 12-17 March 1977). 

- The Australian and the English teams for the first-ever Test match at Melbourne in March 1877 was then known as the "Grand Combined Melbourne & Sydney XI" and "James Lillywhite's professional touring team XI". This match was subsequently given "Test" status.

- James Southerton, one of the English players, was 49 years, 119 days old when he appeared in the first-ever Test match at Melbourne against Australia on 15-3-1877. He still remains the oldest ever debutant in Test history.

- John Selby, who kept wickets for England at Melbourne, was not their #1 wicketkeeper. Their main keeper, Ted Pooley, was then in jail in Christchurch, New Zealand for betting and for his subsequent alleged assault on a person who refused to pay him.

- Charles Bannerman scored a quick-fire 30 in just 25 minutes, including the first hit for "five" (which would have counted as a six in today's Laws) in Test cricket against England at Melbourne in April 1877, in the second Test of the series. 

- Australian Fredrick Spofforth became the first bowler to claim a hat-trick in Tests when he claimed the wickets of Royle, McKinnon and Emmett in the first innings against England at Melbourne in January 1879. 

-  Australian Fredrick Spofforth in the above match became the first bowler to claim a 10-wicket haul in Tests. His match figures were 13/110 against England at Melbourne in January 1879. 

-  The first-ever Test match in England was played at The Oval on 6-8 September 1880, thanks to the efforts by the then secretary of Surrey, CC - Charles William Alcock. Although this match was not originally in the tour fixture list, it was held on dates originally set aside for Australia's match against Sussex. 

-  England was the first team to enforce a follow-on in Test cricket when they made Australia do so at The Oval in September 1880. Lord Harris, later the Governor of the Bombay Presidency, thus became the first captain to do so. 

- The Grace brothers - William Gilbert Grace, Edward Mills Grace and George Frederick Grace from England - provided the first instance of three brothers appearing in the same Test match against Australia at The Oval in September 1880. 

- WG Grace scored England's first Test hundred - 152 - on debut against Australia at the Oval in September 1880. 

- The 120-run partnership for the second wicket between England's WG Grace and AP Lucas against Australia at the Oval in September 1880 - was the first-ever century partnership for any wicket in Test cricket.

- Billy Murdoch of Australia became the first captain to score a Test hundred (153 not out) against England at the Oval in September 1880.  It was also the first Test century made while following-on.

- George Ulyett against Australia at Melbourne in December 1881 scored 80 not out of 126 in just two hours before lunch on the first day of the Test. He was ultimately dismissed for 87 runs. 

- James Lillywhite, who was England's captain in the first two Test matches in 1877, became the first Test cricketer to officiate in a Test match as an umpire at Melbourne in December 1881. 

- Englishmen Dick Barlow and George Ulyett provided Test cricket with its first-ever hundred partnership (122) for the opening wicket against Australia at Sydney in February 1882. This was incidentally the first-ever Test match at this venue. 

- Australian George Coulthard who made his debut against England at Sydney in February 1882 had umpired in an earlier Test match at Melbourne in January 1879. He thus became the first Test umpire to subsequently feature as a player in Test cricket. 

- Australians George Palmer (58-36-68-7) and Edwin Evans (57-32-64-3) became the first pair of bowlers to bowl unchanged throughout a Test innings when they did so in England's first innings of 133 runs, which lasted three hours at Sydney in February 1882.  

- England's Arthur Shrewsbury (82 and 47) became the first batsman in Tests to top-score in both innings of a match against Australia at Sydney in March 1882. 

- George Ulyett's 149 was the first Test hundred to be scored by a visiting batsman in Australia. He did so at Melbourne in March 1882. 

- The term "The Ashes" came into being as a result of the first Australian victory over a full-strength England side in England. The visitors won by seven runs at The Oval in August 1882.  The Sporting Times carried a mock obituary stating that the body of English cricket would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. 

- During the famous Australian Test victory over England at the Oval in August 1882 which saw the birth of the Ashes, Frederick Spofforth (7-46 and 7-44), Australia's pace bowler, became the first to take 14 wickets in a Test match.

- During the tense final stages of the famous Oval Test between England and Australia in August 1882 one spectator died of heart failure and another bit through his umbrella handle.

To be continued…..