ON THIS DAY
Follow UsTest cricket has seen numerous partnerships over the years, but few of those innings could be labelled as one-sided as the one that Yorshire’s Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe forged on June 16, 1932. The duo looked invincible from the very first ball until the 1024th delivery when Sutcliffe was bowled by leg-spinner Laurie Eastman of Essex. They had added 555 runs, the then record for the highest opening partnership in first-class cricket.
Having lost to Surrey the previous day, where Essex fielders saw their opponent chase down 252 runs with unbelievable ease, they were both mentally and physically tired. And, while they were hoping for a brief rest by winning the toss and batting first, they were put to two days of intense grill at Leyton.
Yorkshire skipper Brian Sellers knew Essex’s plight and wanted to make the most of it by opting to bat first on a batting-friendly pitch. Though expectations were high from the in-from duo of Holmes and Sutcliffe, little could Sellers fathom what was to come next. The tone was set when Sutcliffe found the gap on the first ball for a boundary, and greatness followed.
The opening pair complimented each other aesthetically. While Holmes went for the big shots with his flair and power, Sutcliffe banked on his elegant strokeplay and technique to find boundaries repeatedly. Holmes had edged a delivery by Arthur Daer, but it was dropped behind him - the only glitch in their entire masterpiece.
Essex’s bowlers remained blunt as the opening duo increased in confidence and continued relentlessly. So effortless was their innings that the spectators hardly realized when the duo reached 423 runs at the end of Day One. While Sutcliffe ended his day on 231, Holmes was on 150 runs.
By the time Essex bowlers took the field on Day 2, they were psychologically defeated. There was already a buzz about the existing record of a 554-run partnership between Derbyshire’s Jack Brown and John Tunnicliffe (in 1898) being broken. Consequently, a large crowd gathered outside the ground.
Sutcliffe and Holmes, however, remained the epitome of focus amidst all this chaos and resumed their innings. Though skipper Sellers had expressed his wish to declare their innings at 1 pm, Sutcliffe was adamant about breaking the 554-run record.
It was the third ball of the 170th over when Sutcliffe pulled Eastman's full toss delivery for a boundary to take the partnership to 555 runs and create a new record. Amidst the jubilant crowd and a celebrating dressing room, a poised Sutcliffe’s focus was finally breached and was he bowled the very next ball.
Sutcliffe ended his innings at 313 runs with 33 boundaries and a six, while Holmes remained unbeaten at 224 runs. Sellers declared Essex's innings immediately. The unbelievable partnership lasted 465 minutes over two days and remained unbroken for 46 long years.
However, the real fun was yet to begin. As both players reached the dressing room post the declaration, the scoreboard went back by one run - 554/1 declared. When asked, both scorers confirmed that the score was 554 and the Holmes-Sutcliffe duo has only levelled the record.
Amidst a commotion in the scorer’s box, one of the two umpires, Tiger Smith stated that the scorers have missed a no-ball.
Charlie McGahey, one of the scorers, headed to the Essex dressing room. “All hell is going on out there. They want us to find an extra run to beat the record and I won't do it without your permission,” he told Charles Bray, the Essex captain.
"Find a run for them. They've batted magnificently and more than deserve the record,” Bray responded. A run was added to the Essex bowler Arthur Daer’s account who already had figures of 0/105.
After over half an hour later, the scoreboard returned to display 555/1, granting the record to Holmes and Sutcliffe and the play resumed.
Sellers later revealed that “... Stacks of 555 State Express [sic] cigarettes arrived in the dressing room for Herbert and Percy. Later Herbert bought an AC car with 555 on it."
Essex were wrapped up for just 78 runs in the first innings before they could only sum up 164 runs in the second. Yorkshire won by an innings and 313 runs and would also go on to win the championship that year.
It was Pakistan’s Waheed Mirza and Mansoor Akhtar, while playing for Karachi Whites, who would later break the record during 1976-77. They had forged a 561-run stand against Quetta.
The record was broken 45 years later but in the longer run, the partnership teaches us to always have a cushion of a few extra runs before putting our guard down. And that stays true for all aspects of life.
