England’s 1926 Ashes-winning team: back row - Larwood, Tate, Geary, Stevens, Sutcliffe, Hendren; front row - Strudwick, Hobbs, Chapman (c), Rhodes, Woolley.
It is 100 years this week 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 Council) 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 inherited the photo of the triumphant team (above) and 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 interspersed with other photos and classic Pathe footage of the match. The 35 minute video (below the paywall break) is available to paid subscribers of this blog on the YouTube link below. Please subscribe to the paid version for this and more exclusive content as well as our podcasts ad-free.
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