From WG to KP, it’s been a hell of a ride at the Oval
With the 100th Test at the Oval looming, Roderick Easdale picks 10 epic battles on the famous south London ground
v Australia 1880
This was the start of Test cricket in England. After an acrimonious tour by Lord Harris’ English side the previous winter, and a late decision by the Australians to send a team, the tourists struggled to find high-profile fixtures. In a four-and-a-half-month tour, of their 53 games only nine were first-class.
Negotiations between WG Grace and MCC to put on a match at Lord’s between the tourists and a representative England XI came to nowt. But in late July, Surrey, at the sixth time of asking, agreed to put on such a game in September and gather together an England side for it.
England won it by five wickets after WG Grace scored 152 and Australia had followed on.
v Australia 1882
After England lost a low-scoring oneoff match to the unfancied visitors, a satirical notice appeared in the
Sporting Times in “affectionate remembrance of English cricket which died at the Oval on 29th August 1882 .... the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”. The Press took up the theme and christened the English tour to Australia a few months later as being “to regain The Ashes”.
v Australia 1902
Australia won the fourth Test at Old Trafford by three runs and the next Test was equally close. Having skittled Australia for 121 second time around to leave a target of 263, England were 48-5 when Gilbert Jessop came in. In the next hour and a quarter he hit 104. When he fell England were 187-7.
But the tail wagged, and the ninth wicket fell 15 runs shy of victory. When last man Wilfred Rhodes joined fellow Yorkshireman George Hirst, an apocryphal story goes that he was told by Hirst: “We’ll get them in singles.” A dropped slip catch, a two and 13 singles later, England had won by one wicket.
v Australia 1934
With the series tied at 1-1, the final Test would be timeless rather than be played over four days as the others had been.
That England bowled Australia out for 701 was a relative achievement from the viewpoint of the visitors being 472-1. Bill Ponsford scored 266, Bradman (right) 244 and noone else managed even a half century. The second wicket put on 451, the other nine, 250 between them. After England’s innings ended at 321 with one man retired hurt and another absent hurt, Australia batted again, leaving 708 needed for a home victory. England made 145 of them. The victory margin of 562 runs is the largest by runs in Tests in England.
v Australia 1938
Opening the innings in this timeless Test and in only his sixth Test match, 22-year-old Len Hutton scored a Test record 364. This stood until a 21-yearold Garfield Sobers made 365 in 1958. But it remains the highest individual innings for England. His innings had taken just over 13 and a quarter hours and came off 847 balls. England declared on 903-7 and went on to make Australia follow on and win by an innings and 579 runs, the largest innings victory in Test cricket. Of the 62 Oval Tests to have ended in a win (40 of them by England), 19 have been by an innings and six by 10 wickets.
v Australia 1948
This was always going to be Don Bradman’s final Test match. When he walked out to bat in the first innings, such was the course of the game – England all out 52, Australia 117-1 – it was always likely to be his last Test innings.
He was bowled second ball by Eric Hollies and left the field to a standing ovation. Hollies turned to a team-mate: “best bloody ball I’ve bowled all season and they’re clapping him!”
This duck was Bradman’s 16th, and final, one in 338 first-class innings. Six of them had been first ball, and three second. He had entered the field with a Test average of 101.39, and departed with one of 99.94.
v West Indies 1980
England at one stage looked like making the visitors follow on when West Indies slipped to 105-5 in reply to their 370, but ended up battling to save defeat having collapsed to 92-9 in their second innings.
At this stage, 25 minutes after lunch on the final day, Bob Willis joined No.8 Peter Willey, England only 197 ahead. The West Indies saw a lot of Willey during his international career – 15 of his 26 Tests, and half his 26 ODIs were against them – and they were to see a lot of him that day. On 13 when Willis joined him, he made a century as his No.11 partner lurched forward in defence for 171 minutes.
The topsy turvy nature of this game makes it one of the best Oval Tests. Or as Wisden put it: “Considering a complete day was lost to the weather, that only 29 wickets fell, and that West Indies averaged 12.3 overs an hour, the fourth Test was a much better match than it might have been.”
v South Africa 1994
When Devon Malcolm was hit on the head by a delivery by Fanie de Villiers, he reportedly said: “You guys are going to pay for this.You guys are history.”
Nine of them became part of history as a fired-up Malcolm took 9-57 in 16.3 second innings overs as three batsmen succumbed to catches behind and one to a slip, one hooked to long leg, one was caught-and-bowled off a lifting delivery, one fell lbw and two were clean bowled.
Only Jim Laker, with 9-37 and 10-53 at Old Trafford in 1956, had better innings bowling figures for England.
Bowled out for 175, with only eighth man out Daryll Cullinan (94) and not out De Villiers not falling to Malcolm, South Africa, who had led on first innings, went on to lose by eight wickets.
v Sri Lanka 1998
This is the only Test Sri Lanka have played at The Oval; Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have never played here.
England made 445 batting first yet lost by ten wickets. Sri Lanka had replied with 591, and then the English batsmen were mesmerised by Muttiah Muralitharan. In England’s first knock he had bowled 59.3 overs to take 7-155, and in England’s strokeless second innings – 181 all out in 129.2 overs – he returned figures of 54.2-27-65-9.
v Australia 2005
After 16 years and eight series in Australian possession, the Ashes were prised away by England. Needing to win the Oval Test, Australia’s decision to go off for bad light on the third evening when 277-2 in reply to England’s 373 was a safety-first approach that failed when they lost the remaining eight wickets the next day for 90 runs.
But at lunch on the final day England were only 133 ahead with half the side gone, but Kevin Pietersen – dropped at slip by Shane Warne early on – went on to make a buccaneering 158, his maiden Test century, and secured England the draw. The team went on an open-top bus tour of celebration, the Royal Mail issued a set of commemorative stamps, the players received MBEs and the captain, coach and chairman of selectors OBEs.