BRILLIANT BOTHAM AND FAB FREDDIE: NINE OTHER CLASSIC HOME TESTS
1902, Old Trafford Australia beat England by 3 runs. Star man: Hugh Trumble.
THIS Test would for ever be known as ‘Tate’s match’ after the England No 11, making his debut, dropped Australian captain Joe Darling at a crucial stage of the third innings and was then last man out with England, set 124 after skittling the Aussies for 86, needing only four to win. Australia claimed the Ashes for the fourth successive series, with Hugh Trumble taking 10 wickets in the match, and Fred Tate was never selected again.
1934, Lord’s England beat Australia by an innings and 38 runs. Star man: Hedley Verity.
THERE can have been few more poignant feats in Test history than Yorkshire leftarm spinner Hedley Verity’s destruction of Australia on a single Monday in late June. Verity claimed 14 wickets for 80 that day alone as the Australians, convinced the Lord’s pitch had been transformed into a so-called sticky dog by heavy rain on the Sunday, succumbed one after the other — Don Bradman among them. When war broke out, it meant Verity would never add to his 144 Test wickets: he died from his wounds after being shot during an attack on German soldiers in Sicily in 1943. England would not beat Australia again at Lord’s until 2009.
1938, The Oval England beat Australia by an innings and 579 runs. Star man: Len Hutton.
THIS was a timeless Test, and Yorkshire’s Len Hutton was determined to make the most of it, hitting a new world record of 364 to surpass Don Bradman’s 334 at Headingley eight years earlier. With Maurice Leyland scoring 187 and Joe Hardstaff Jnr 169 not out, England racked up 903 for seven — the second highest Test total of all time — as Australia fell to their biggest ever defeat.
1953, The Oval England beat Australia by eight wickets. Star man: Tony Lock.
THIS was not the most gripping Test played but for post-war England it was among the most significant. Having lost the Ashes in 1934, England had been without the urn for 19 years but Tony Lock helped set up victory with five wickets. Brian Johnston’s commentary — ‘It’s the Ashes! Yes, England have won the Ashes!’ — as Denis Compton made the winning hit summed up the mood of a relieved nation.
1956, Old Trafford England beat Australia by an innings and 73 runs. Star man: Jim Laker.
IT’S A record that may never be beaten as Jim Laker took 19 Australian wickets. He celebrated with a sandwich and a pint in Lichfield, where the locals were too busy watching the highlights on the pub TV to notice his presence. Australians still suspect the Manchester pitch was doctored — though it did not stop England scoring 459. Laker’s figures were nine for 37 and 10 for 53.
2000, Lord’s England beat West Indies by two wickets. Star man: Dominic Cork.
DEFEAT, and England would have been 2-0 down in the first major home series of the Duncan Fletcher era. And when they conceded a first-innings deficit of 133 to West Indies, defeat looked inevitable. But Andy Caddick and Cork skittled the tourists for 54, before Cork and Darren Gough added an unbroken 31 for the ninth wicket as England scraped home amid exquisite tension at Lord’s.