The
History of Trent Bridge
The third oldest Test ground in
the world staged its inaugural
match on June 1st 1899. Founded
in 1838 behind the Trent Bridge
Inn by William Clarke, the later
1886 pavilion moulded the future
development of the Nottingham
ground. The First Test in the
1899 Ashes series was a draw;
England captain W.G. Grace
played his last match aged 50
years and 320 days. Only Wilfred
Rhodes was older when he played
Tests and also made his debut in
this match.
A.C. MacLaren’s 140 was the
first century at Trent Bridge in
1905 while South Africa played a
Test for the first time here in
1912, against Australia in a
Triangular Tournament also
involving England.
The First Test in 1921 at Trent
Bridge was the 100th Ashes
match; Australia won by ten
wickets on the second afternoon.
In the same series, England’s
658-8d in 1938 remains the
highest at Trent Bridge; it was
the first time four batsmen
scored a hundred in an innings
in the Ashes – Len Hutton and
Dennis Compton’s were in their
first Test against Australia.
The Third Test in 1950, the West
Indies’ first at Trent Bridge,
saw Frank Worrell hit 261, then
the highest on the ground, and
it allowed the away side to win
by ten wickets.
R.T. Simpson’s 137 was the first
century by a Nottinghamshire
player at Trent Bridge while
A.D. Nourse’s 208 was the first
South African to score a
double-hundred versus England.
Alec Bedser’s 14-99 versus
Australia in 1953 was the best
bowling return at Trent Bridge,
while four years later, Tom
Graveney’s 258 against the West
Indies remains the third best on
the Nottinghamshire pitch.
The highest score was by Compton
in 1954 with 278 against
Pakistan, their first match at
Trent Bridge. England’s 558-6
was their top score against
Pakistan and they triumphed by
an innings and 129 runs.
India’s first match at Trent
Bridge in 1959 saw them lose by
an innings and 59 runs; three
years later South Africa’s 88 in
the first innings was the lowest
on the ground and they were
defeated by 8 wickets.
1967’s ten-wicket win over
Pakistan witnessed Nottingham
Fire Brigade pump 100,000
gallons of water off the pitch
after a heavy storm on the first
day. Two years later saw New
Zealand’s first match on the
ground end in a draw.
Ray Illingworth became the first
England captain in 1972 to
invite the opposition to bat at
Trent Bridge, in a draw against
Australia.
The following year, New
Zealand’s 440 was the highest
fourth innings total by a losing
team.
The first World Cup match at
Trent Bridge was in June 1975 as
England beat New Zealand by 80
runs and Keith Fletcher scored
131 to win the match award.
The drawn Test versus the West
Indies saw Viv Richards hit an
imperious 232 – his fifth
century of 1976, taking his Test
aggregate for that year past
1,000 runs. Alan Knott’s 200th
catch in the match was the first
instance by a wicketkeeper.
In 1977 England beat Australia
by seven wickets in the Third
Test, their first Ashes win at
Trent Bridge since 1930. Geoff
Boycott ended a self-imposed
Test exile with his 13th century
while Knott became the first
wicketkeeper to score 4,000 runs
with 135 and Ian Botham’s Test
debut saw him take 5-74 in the
first innings.
The five-Test series in 1980
against the West Indies was
decided in the first Test at
Trent Bridge, when the visitors
won narrowly by two wickets. Ian
Botham was the new England
captain and hit 57 out of a
total of 263, with the West
Indies pace attack of Andy
Roberts, Michael Holding,
Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner
managing only 14 overs an hour
throughout the match. West
Indies hit 308 with Viv Richards
top-scoring then England were
all out for 252, with 75 from
Boycott in 345 minutes and 52
extras. Desmond Haynes (62)
helped the Windies inch their
way to the win on the last day
with 209-8.
The 1981 Ashes series started at
Trent Bridge with Australia
drawing first blood. Botham’s
fortunes, to change later in the
series, were suffering as
captain. England struggled to
185 but Australia came up 6 runs
short in their reply. Playing on
the Sunday for the first time in
a Test in England, the home side
were all out for 125, with
Dennis Lillee taking 8-80 and
Terry Alderman 9-130 in the
match.
England secured the series 3-1
in the last Test at Trent Bridge
in 1983 versus New Zealand. The
helmet-less David Gower made 72
and was hit on the head by
Richard Hadlee while Botham
(103) and local hero Derek
Randall (83) shared an
entertaining stand of 186. With
no rest day, captain Bob Willis
did not force New Zealand to
follow-on and Hadlee took his
200th wicket as England batted.
Needing 511 in two days, the
visitors were all out for 345
and lost by 165 runs.
The 1986 series was decided in
the Second Test with Hadlee
taking ten wickets on his county
ground and John Bracewell
belying an average of 16 to
score a century; New Zealand won
by eight wickets.
The 1989 One-Day International
in Nottingham saw England
(226-5) tie scores with
Australia (226-8) in 55 overs.
What was then a One-Day record
saw England post 363-7 against
Pakistan in 1992 in a Trent
Bridge win.
The Trent Bridge Test in the
1993 Ashes was the only drawn
match, helped by Graham Thorpe’s
114* in his first Test match.
Graham Gooch and David Boon also
scored centuries as the game
petered out.
Gooch’s 210 and Mike Atherton’s
101 in a first-innings
partnership of 263 set up
England’s win by an innings and
90 runs against New Zealand in
1994. Even though this was the
First Test it was enough for a
series win.
Brian Lara continued his
pummelling of England’s attack
in the Fifth Test in 1995 but
centuries by Atherton and Graeme
Hick prevented the West Indies
from claiming a win.
Another high-scoring game in the
final Test in 1996 against India
ended in a draw and gave England
a series win; centuries came
from Saurav Ganguly, Sachin
Tendulkar, Atherton and Nasser
Hussain.
The 2002 drawn Test between the
two countries was again a tale
of big scores with Sehwag, Rahul
Dravid and Michael Vaughan (197)
all notching centuries.
The 2005 Fourth Test win allowed
England to reclaim the Ashes
with a narrow victory by three
wickets. The enthralling series
peaked in a tense finish in
Nottingham after England built a
large first innings lead thanks
to an Andrew Flintoff century
aided by the rest of the team
with the bat and in the field.
Australia followed on and scored
387 with many batsmen making
starts but always being pegged
back by the home side. Shane
Warne took four wickets and
Brett Lee three as England
chased down 129 and had to leave
it to tail-enders Ashley Giles
and Matthew Hoggard to secure
the win.
England’s 391-4 versus
Bangladesh is the eighth highest
One-Day International score of
all-time; Paul Collingwood hit
112 and took 6-31 in the 2005
Trent Bridge match. The previous
year Steve Harmison completed a
One-Day hat-trick against India
on the ground.
A relatively low-scoring match
in 2006 saw Sri Lanka level the
series in the Third Test,
dominated by 11 wickets from the
irrepressible Muttiah
Muralitharan.
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