The London Oval - the much loved grounds of star cricketers

By A.C. De Silva

FLASHBACK: The Oval in England has earned a name for itself of having staged many memorable cricket matches. Cricket is a famous game and with The Oval staging many memorable matches in the past, the name has come to be remembered by all and sundry. The most memorable match ever played at the The Oval was undoubtedly the fifth Test between England and Australia in 1938 when England outclassed Australia in every department of the game. In that Test, England established a variety of world records.

Under Walter Hammond's captaincy it amassed the then record total of 903 for 7 wickets declared and then dismissed Bradman's Australians very cheaply in both innings to win the Test by an innings and 579 runs. England's mammoth total would have posed an unforeseen problem to the organisers of the Test. If it had continued batting and added another 97 runs to the total, the Oval management Committee would have been in a fix, for it had no place to display the four-figure scores on the scoreboard.

In the same Test seven Aussies together bowled a total of 336 overs, which was the highest number of overs ever bowled in an innings for a long time. Fleetwood-Smith conceded as many as 298 runs to capture gap one wicket, the highest number of runs conceded in an innings for a long time. His final analysis at the end of the innings read: 87 overs, 11 maidens and one wicket for 298 runs.

India will ever cherish the memories of The Oval, for it is there that they won its first Test and the series too, against England in England. Though it made 284 runs in reply to England's 355 and was in arrears by 71 runs in the first innings the combined efforts by all the Indians particularly Chandrasekhar, England was dismissed for a mere 101 runs. India won by 4 wickets.

In the early days out of the five Tests played by India at The Oval, India was defeated in two and won the last Test played in 1971. The remaining two were drawn because of the rain. Thus the record of the Indians here is not too dismal.

The Oval - the first Test venue of England

The headquarters of Surrey County Cricket Club, the Kensington Oval - enjoys the distinction of being the first ever Test venue of England, as it was there that the first Test match was played. Australia visited England for the first time and the only Test of the series was arranged on September 6th 1880 when the three-day Test was won by England by five wickets.

Leaving out the 1971 series, England have won 26 Tests, 12 against Australia, 4 against West Indians, three against New Zealand and two against South Africa, India and Pakistan.

Defeats on England shared

The defeats inflicted on England are shared by Australia (5), West Indies (4) and India and Pakistan (1 each), South Africa and New Zealand have yet to defeat England at The Oval as at Sept. 1, 1979.

W.G. Grace of England and W.L. Murdoch of Australia celebrated the inaugural Test by hitting centuries and thereafter 94 more centuries have been recorded at the The Oval as on Sept. 1st, 1979.

Vivian Richards of the West Indians had the record of making the tallest score of 291 here in 1976.

Innumerable cricketers have retired or have been thrown out of Test cricket after participating in the last Test at The Oval. One such occasion which will be remembered for a long time to come was the much publicised retirement of Sir Donald Bradman in 1948.

1948 tour of England - last for Don

The Don had announced that the 1948 tour of England would be his last trip to England and that after the last Test at the Oval, he would lay his bat to rest. When he went into bat for the last time at The Oval, the entire stadium rose like one man to give him a standing ovation. The irony of fate was that the run-getting machine was out - clean bowled by Eric Hollies with the very second ball for zero. Bradman's average stood at 99.94 just 4 runs short of what would have been 100 per innings in Tests.

Indian cricketers have also made their mark at The oval. Bhagwat Chandrasekhar heads the Indian list with 6 for 38 and 8 for 114 in the victorious Test of 1971.

Talk of cricket and a few seasons about the West Indian cricketers, one cannot miss the great batting of Vivian Richards who earned the distinction of making the tallest score for the West Indies with a really superb 291 in 1976.