Albert Trott Hits a Six Over the Lord's Pavilion — 31 July 1899

Trott had been overlooked by Australia for the 1896 tour despite his prodigious 1894-95 debut. He moved to England, qualified for Middlesex, and was by 1899 a Wisden Cricketer of the Year. The Australians were touring under Joe Darling; the MCC fixture was a high-profile traditional match.

MCC batting; Trott in at six. Noble bowling around medium pace from the Pavilion End.

Trott had moved to England in 1896 to qualify for Middlesex after his omission from Australia's team. By 1899 he was the country's leading all-rounder; he would do a double of 1,000 runs and 200 wickets in 1899, the first man ever to manage that feat.

The MCC v Australians fixture at Lord's on 31 July was an end-of-series tour match. Trott batted at six for the MCC and met Monty Noble's medium pace with a straight drive. The ball cleared the front of the Lord's pavilion, struck a chimney stack on the roof, deflected, and landed in the garden of pavilion attendant Philip Need behind the building.

Under the laws of 1899, only fully-cleared boundaries counted as six; balls landing inside the ground counted four. The pavilion garden was within the ground and so Trott's hit was officially scored as four. Modern Lord's marks the spot in the pavilion roof with a stone disk. No other batsman has cleared the pavilion since: not Bradman, not Sobers, not Botham, not Pietersen.

The pavilion was 70 yards from the wicket and around 95 feet high. Trott himself reportedly said later: 'I broke my f-ing duck on it.' He died in 1914, aged 41, by his own hand.

“The ball was a half-volley on middle stump and Trott met it square.”

Trott played for Middlesex through to 1910 and ended his playing career as the only man to do the 1,000 runs / 200 wickets first-class double in a season (1899 and 1900). His commercial life never thrived; he killed himself in his Willesden lodgings in July 1914 aged 41, leaving a single line: 'My possessions to my landlady.'