Lives in Cricket No 21 - Walter Read

46 passing through) have a habit of becoming part of cricket folklore. The contests of 2005 and 2009 saw the Ashes return to England, as did that of 1953, while 1948 witnessed Bradman’s farewell Test Match. ‘Where the Ashes were won’ was a Marketing Department -coined slogan which briefly adorned Surrey stationery for a few months in the mid-decade Pietersen-mania days, only to be quietly dropped as the euphoria subsided with a 5-0 defeat in the Antipodes eighteen months later. ‘Where the Ashes were born’ might have been less transient for it was here that England’s first defeat on English soil in 1882 gave rise to the mock obituary in the Sporting Times and the concept of ‘The Ashes’. Two years before that, Charles Alcock had launched Test cricket in England and two years after that, the Test match of 1884 was memorable, if for different reasons. It was the third match of a series of three, the convention of The Oval hosting the final Test of the summer being early established. There had been a draw at Old Trafford and England had an easy win by an innings and five runs at Lord’s. Before the establishment of the Board of Control of ‘Test’ Matches at Home in 1899, the responsibility for team selection lay with the host venue and inevitably there was a degree of bias and favouritism. Read, though having not had a bad season for Surrey and eventually again topping the averages for the season, did not play at Manchester and contributed a modest eleven and seven to the win at the other London venue. He was included in the team for the match at The Oval which began on Monday 11 August. W.L. Murdoch made test cricket’s first double century as Australia accumulated 551 in an innings unique in Test match annals in that all eleven of the fielding side had a turn with the ball, including WW with seven overs of his slow lobs. Unlike wicketkeeper Lyttelton who had 4 for 19, he had no success. At 181 for 8, England were well on the way to following on and an innings defeat. WW, batting at No.10, had other ideas. He failed to avert the follow-on, but with what he later said was his best innings of 117, ensured that defeat was avoided. He reached his century in 36 scoring strokes and in all, his innings lasted 120 minutes (155 balls). It remains the highest score by a no 10 in Test cricket, a fairly meaningless record, as it is bizarre that he should be batting there in the first place. Exactly why one selected for his batting rather than his slow lobs was batting at no 10 is a matter for conjecture. Surrey and England 1881/87