Headingley
Cricket History
Yorkshire County Cricket Club,
which was founded in 1863, only
played their first match at
their Headingley ground in 1891.
Eight years later, the first
Test match at the Leeds venue
took place on June 29th, 1899.
This third match of the series
against Australia ended in a
draw and J.T. Hearne took a
hat-trick in the match for
England.
A draw in the next match at
Headingley in 1905, also against
Australia, saw the first century
on the ground by England
captain, the Hon. F.S. Jackson
(144).
1907 witnessed the first Test
against South Africa in Leeds.
England won by 53 runs in a
low-scoring game; England were
all out for 76 then South
Africa’s second innings saw them
dismissed for 75. C. Blythe’s
impressive bowling feat for
England saw him finish with
15-99, still a record at
Headingley.
Don Bradman’s 334 in the drawn
1930 Test was then a world
record and is still only just
outside the top ten scores of
all-time. He made 309 on the
first day and went to 1000 Test
runs in only seven matches (13
innings). In 1934 the Don
followed this up with 304 in
another drawn game. With
Ponsford (181) they added 388
for the fourth wicket – then a
world record as was Australia’s
584. Bradman (103) scored his
3rd successive century at
Headingley in 1938, helping
Australia to win by 5 wickets.
Ten years later Bradman (173*)
scored his 4th ton in six
innings at Leeds with the last
of his 29 Test centuries.
Australia won again, by 7
wickets.
New Zealand played their first
Test match at Headingley in 1949
in a drawn game. Three years
later India played their
inaugural match their too when
England won by 7 wickets and the
selectors broke with the amateur
tradition and made Len Hutton
captain.
In 1953 versus Australia, Alec
Bedser became the leading Test
wicket-taker in a draw, passing
C.V. Grimmett’s 216.
Another hat-trick at Headingley
was for P.J. Loader as England
won by an innings and 5 runs
against West Indies in 1957.
Godfrey Evans became the 1st
wicketkeeper to take 200
dismissals in the Test.
The following year, in the
defeat of New Zealand, England
included two double
internationals with openers
M.J.K. Smith (rugby union) and
C.A. Milton (football).
1962 saw Pakistan’s first match
at Headingley in the 3rd Test of
the series when England won by
an innings and 117 runs.
J.H. Edrich’s 310* versus New
Zealand in 1965 is still the
fifth highest score by an
English batsman.
1967 saw England’s then highest
score at Leeds – 550 versus
India with Geoff Boycott hitting
246* on his home ground.
The 1975 Ashes Test was
abandoned as a draw on the last
day after vandals sabotaged the
pitch with knives and oil –
campaigning for the release of a
convicted criminal. That’s just
not cricket.
England retained the Ashes in
the 4th Headingley Test in 1977;
Boycott’s 191 was his 100th
first-class century.
The 1981 Ashes turned in the
Third Test at Headingley, after
Ian Botham resigned as captain
and Mike Brearley took over.
Botham took 6-98 and top-scored
with 50 in the first innings but
England followed on and were
135-7 with Botham at the wicket.
Still 92 short of an innings
defeat, bookmakers had odds of
500-1 for England to win and
Australians Dennis Lillee and
Rodney Marsh put a few sporting
pounds on. Graham Dilley (56)
and Botham added 117 in 18
overs, with the latter reaching
103 off 87 balls. They ended the
day on 351-9 but only added 5
more, with Botham closing on
149* off 148 balls. Australia
needed 130 to win and Botham
took the first wicket at 13-1.
Bob Willis (8-43) switched to
the Kirkstall Lane End and had
Australia 75-8 before they were
all out 18 runs short.
The 1983 second Test at
Headingley witnessed New
Zealand’s first win in England
and the home side’s fortunes
were further reversed in 1984,
when the West Indies won the
series 5-0. Malcolm Marshall
fractured his thumb fielding in
the Headingley Test but batted
one-handed and then bowled
England out for 159 with 7-53.
1989 saw the touring Australians
post a mammoth 601-7d with Steve
Waugh’s 177* setting up the
First Test win by 210 runs and a
crushing Ashes series triumph.
1991 saw England’s first win
versus the West Indies since
1974 by 115 runs with Graham
Gooch hitting 154*.
The next year another Gooch
(135) hundred helped a win
against Pakistan in the 4th
Test.
The 1993 Ashes saw Australia go
3-0 up in the series in the 4th
Test, winning by an innings and
148 runs; David Boon (107),
Waugh (157*) and captain Alan
Border (200*) posting impressive
scores in the highest Test
innings at Leeds (653-4d).
Australia again went ahead in
the 4th Ashes Test in 1997 at
Headingley.
In the final and 5th Test
against South Africa in 1998,
England won to clinch the series
2-1.
In 2001, England fought back to
3-1 against Australia in the 4th
Test with a six-wicket win,
thanks to 173* from Mark
Butcher.
India’s 628-8d in 2002 saw them
to an innings victory, with
Rahul Dravid (148), Sachin
Tendulkar (132) and Saurav
Ganguly (128) setting up the
mammoth score.
England went 2-0 up in the 2nd
Test versus New Zealand to win
in 2004. Marcus Trescothick
(132) and Geraint Jones (100)
scored in the 526-run innings,
before bowling out the visitors
for 161 in the second innings.
England went 2-0 up in the 3rd
Test versus Pakistan in 2006.
Kevin Pietersen (135) and Ian
Bell (119) top-scored in the 515
first-innings score. Pakistan’s
reply was 538 with Younis Khan
(173) and Mo. Yousuf Youhana
(192) but then England hit 345
(Andrew Strauss 116) and
Pakistan were bowled out for
155, losing by 167 runs.
The 286 opening partnership
between Upul Tharanga and Sanath
Jayasuriya in the Sri Lanka
versus England game at
Headingley in 2006 was the
highest first-pair partnership
in One-Day Internationals.
Jayasuriya’s 152 is in the top
list of highest individual
knocks.
England beat the West Indies by
an innings and 283 runs in the
May 2007 Test. The home side
posted 570-7 in the first
innings with Pietersen hitting
226, the second highest score by
an English batsman since Graham
Gooch’s 333 in 1990 at Lord’s
versus India. Captain Michael
Vaughan (103) returned for his
first Test in 18 months after
injury, with his 16th century.
Ryan Sidebottom took eight
wickets in the match as the
visitors were all out for 146
and 141, although they were
without injured captain
Ramnaresh Sarwan. |
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