Victor Trumper — First Test Century Before Lunch, Old Trafford 1902

Trumper's 1902 tour of England had already become legendary by the time the touring side reached Manchester. He would finish with 2,570 runs and eleven first-class hundreds in a wet summer that ruined many touring batsmen. The Old Trafford pitch had been damaged by overnight rain and was expected to favour England's seamers; Darling's decision to bat first was therefore a gamble.

MacLaren had instructed Lockwood to attack from the Stretford End. Within minutes Trumper had carved a square cut to the boundary and the field was being spread.

Australia had won at Sheffield, drawn at Lord's, and the Edgbaston washout meant the urn was effectively to be decided over the next two Tests. Trumper had made 18 and 62 in the previous Tests; an innings of weight was overdue.

Joe Darling won the toss at Old Trafford on 24 July 1902 and chose to bat on a pitch that had been soaked overnight and was expected to play tricky. Archie MacLaren, England's captain, was reportedly delighted; the new ball would do plenty under low cloud. Within ten overs the strategy was in tatters.

Victor Trumper, opening with Reggie Duff, played one of the great attacking innings in Test history. He drove Bill Lockwood and Wilfred Rhodes through extra cover, cut Stanley Jackson over the slips, and pulled the short ball with a balance later cricketers tried in vain to imitate. Duff played the supporting role beautifully, but it was Trumper who reached lunch on 103 not out — the first batsman to score a Test century before lunch on the opening day.

He was eventually out for 104, caught by Lilley off Jackson. Wisden the following year observed that 'no batsman could have done more for his side under such conditions, and few have ever done as much.' MacLaren, despite the setback, told friends he had never seen better. The innings set up Australia's 299 and ultimately their three-run win.

“No batsman could have done more for his side under such conditions, and few have ever done as much.”

“When Victor Trumper made a great innings, all the world's a stage.”

England were rocked, but Stanley Jackson's 128 in reply kept them in the match. Trumper failed in the second innings (4) but Joe Darling's 37, after Fred Tate had dropped him, swung the contest Australia's way. The three-run win followed.

For Trumper personally, the innings cemented a reputation that had been building since his 1899 hundred at Lord's. Photographer George Beldam's famous picture of him 'jumping out to drive', taken in 1905, would in time become the most reproduced cricket image of the era.