7 Facts you should know about the very first Test Match

#5 Mid-match betting and more!

Charles Bannerman: First centurion

Charles Bannerman wouldn’t have gone on to score 165 had it not been for English all-rounder Thomas Armitage, who made a mess of a simple catch, resulting in the ball hitting his tummy. Armitage apparently having felt immensely guilty, placed a bet with his captain Lillywhite that he would score a fifty – but made a mere 9 and 3 in the match.

Another notable incident involved England’s second choice wicket-keeper Harry Jupp, who was forcibly included to ensure the English had a playing eleven, as his eye inflammation rendered him unable to keep wickets in this match.

Jupp made up for his absence as a wicket-keeper by scoring England’s first Test fifty, but not before he had accidently stepped onto his stumps – something which both umpires failed to notice – resulting in an extra life for him before he became Test cricket’s first LBW victim to Thomas William Garrett’s bowling.