Jessop's Match — 104 in 75 Minutes, Oval 1902

England had lost the Old Trafford Test by three runs and with it the Ashes. With Saunders, Trumble and Armstrong all in form, Australia were heavy favourites at The Oval. England had been forced into changes, recalling Jessop and bringing back Wilfred Rhodes after his Old Trafford appearance. Trumble's eight-wicket haul in the first three innings looked decisive; few in the ground gave England a chance after their 183 first innings.

The pitch was wearing but not unplayable; the difficulty was the Australian attack and the scoreboard pressure. The Oval crowd of about 18,000 had largely come to witness a final Australian flourish.

MacLaren and Palairet were both gone cheaply on day three; by mid-afternoon England were tottering. Tyldesley, Lilley and Braund all fell, and at 48 for 5 the match looked lost. Then Jessop strode out.

After Australia had retained the Ashes at Old Trafford, the fifth Test at The Oval on 11-13 August 1902 was a dead rubber for the urn but a live one for English pride. Australia made 324, with Hugh Trumble taking 8 wickets in the match, before England replied with only 183. Set 263 to win on a wearing surface, England were 48 for 5 with the series and the summer slipping away.

What followed was Gilbert Laird Jessop's defining innings. Jessop, the Gloucestershire amateur known as 'The Croucher' for his low stance, walked in and immediately counterattacked Trumble, Saunders and Noble. He reached fifty in 43 minutes and his hundred in 75, eventually dismissed for 104 in 77 minutes — an innings containing seventeen fours and an all-run five. Wisden recorded that the crowd 'cheered him to the echo' as he left.

He still left England needing 76 with three wickets in hand. George Hirst and Bill Lockwood added 27 before Lockwood went, and at 248 for 9 Wilfred Rhodes joined Hirst with 15 runs still needed. Their stand of 15 unbeaten runs delivered England a one-wicket victory that has been talked about for over 120 years. The famous exchange — Hirst supposedly saying 'We'll get them in singles, Wilfred' — was denied by both men in later years, but the legend endures.

“We never said anything of the kind.”

“He cheered him to the echo.”

Jessop's innings transformed his already considerable reputation into legend. He was reported to have walked from the field to a roar that 'lifted the pavilion roof'. Hirst returned home to Huddersfield to find the streets lined; Rhodes, characteristically reticent, said little. Australia's tour ended with the Ashes safely retained, but the memory of the final Test belonged to England.

The one-wicket margin remains one of only six such in Ashes history, and the chase of 263 was for many decades the highest fourth-innings winning total at The Oval.