Bannerman
Location and photographer unknown
circa 1880
The first Test match took place at Melbourne in March 1877. England’s touring party was organised by the business-savvy captain James Lillywhite and comprised 12 professionals, although this fell to 11 when wicketkeeper Ted Pooley, an inveterate gambler, was detained in New Zealand in a betting scandal. The match began at 1pm in front of 1,500 spectators. Charles Bannerman, Kent-born but raised in Sydney, faced the first ball, and when stumps were called four hours later, with the crowd having swelled to over 4,000, he was 126 not out from 166-6. The next day he pushed on to 165 before his middle finger was split and he retired hurt, his final score accounting for 67.3 per cent of the team’s total. Remarkably, across the best part of 2,500 subsequent Test matches, that record remains intact. Australia won the match by 45 runs. Incredibly, a hundred years later, the one-off ‘Centenary Test’ at the MCG in 1977 would throw up exactly the same result.