110 years back on this day Warren Bardsley got a unique record. Bardsley was a left-hander opener from Australia and had a pretty good record in test matches and first-class cricket during the first quarter of the 20th century.
Bardsley made his debut in the 1909 Edgbaston test match against England. He did not have a great start to his Test career as he scored a zero and four single-digit scores in his first eight innings. Till then his highest score was 46 and scored a total of 130 runs with an average around 16.
It all changed in the fifth test of the series at the Oval. Australia won the toss and decided to bat. It was not a good start as they lost Syd Gregory, captain Monty Noble, Warwick Armstrong, and Vernon Ransford even before 60 runs on the board as Douglas Carr picked up three wickets. Bardsley batted patiently and remained there without getting impacted. Finally, he got an able ally in Victor Trumper and added 118 runs. Trumper was in regular self and scored 73 runs in the partnership. Bardsley also got good support from Charles Macartney and reached his maiden test hundred. In a single inning, he almost doubled his average and ended with 136. Australia finally bowled out for 325. Carr finally finished with 5 /146.
England responded with 352, thanks to a century from Jack Sharp and fifties from Wilfred Rhodes, CB Fry, and Kenneth Hutchings. Fast bowler Tibby Cotter took 6/95.
Australia started their second innings strongly. Bardsley was much more confident in the second innings and along with Gregory added 180 runs for the first wicket. Even Gregory’s wicket did not distract Bardsley who soon reached his second century of the match. Thus on 11th August, 1909 Warren Bardsley became the first batsman to score hundreds on the innings of a test match. Australia scored 339 before declaring and England did not have enough time to force a result. With this draw thanks to Bardsley's effort, Australia won the series 2-1.
Bardsley scored a century against South Africa in his next test at Sydney. In total, he scored six test centuries including an unbeaten 193 as 44 years old in his last season. This was his third test century against England after a gap of 17 years after his dual century effort.
