By Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (April 15^th 2025)

Bosanquet’s Test Match Début Series

But chucking was not the only controversy that international cricket had to overcome in the first decade of the 20^th Century. Bernard Bosanquet had mastered the googly in the English county scene. He played just seven Test Matches – he made his début against Australia in the First Test Match at the Sydney Cricket Ground in December 1903 on the 1903-04 tour. Australia was dismissed for 245 in their first innings. Monty Noble scored a century, 133 to be precise. Bosanquet took 2 for 52 from his first 13 overs in Test Match cricket. Future Australian captain, Warwick Armstrong, was his first victim for 48 – Syd Gregory was the other for 23. Both were bowled by Bosanquet.

Also making his début in that match was Reginald ‘Tip’ Foster – the only man to captain England in both football and cricket. Foster set a still standing record – the highest individual score on début, 287 out of England’s total of 577 all out. Somerset’s Leonard Braund also hit a century in that innings, 102. Wilfred Rhodes was unbeaten on 40 – not bad for a number 11 batsman.

Australia recovered in the second innings, hitting 485 all out, led by an unbeaten 185 by Victor Trumper and 84 by Reginald Duff. Bosanquet only took one wicket in the second innings – Australian captain, Monty Noble was stumped by Dick Lilley off Bosanquet’s bowling for 22. Bosanquet also caught Armstrong off Rhodes’ bowling for 27. Bosanquet’s wicket-taking deliveries showed that the Australians had difficulty reading his bowling. England won by 5 wickets, having scored 194 for 5 in their second innings. He didn’t play in the Second Test Match, which England won by 185 runs. Bosanquet returned for the Third Test at Adelaide in January 1904. He did little with the bat, but did well with the ball, taking 2 lower order batsmen and Bert Hopkins for a duck for 95 from 30 overs and 1 ball in Australia’s first innings. Bosanquet took 4 for 73 from just over 15 overs. Unusually, Bosanquet’s wickets were the last four to fall in the second innings. He had claimed 10 wickets in his first two Test Matches, but Australia won the Third Test Match by 216 runs. Trumper hit a century in the first innings and Gregory in the second.

England responded by winning the Fourth Test Match at Sydney by 157 runs. Bosanquet bowled just 2 overs without taking a wicket in Australia’s first innings. He did little with the bat, but took 6 for 51 in the second innings, including three stumpings by Lilley – he claimed the prized wicket of Clem Hill for 26, one of the stumpings.

England lost the Fifth Test Match in Melbourne by 218 runs. Bosanquet did little with the bat and took no wickets – he only bowled 4 overs in the first innings, conceding 27 runs. Braund took 8 for 81 from 29 overs and 1 ball.

Bosanquet had taken a total of 16 wickets in his first series – having played four Test Matches.

Bosanquet’s Final Test Matches

His Test Match career was nearer its conclusion than beginning. His next Test Match was the First Test Match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham at the end of May 1905. England won by 213 runs. Again, Bosanquet did little with the bat and took no wickets in Australia’s first innings, but he excelled in their second innings. Australia’s Frank Laver took 7 for 64 from his 31 overs and 3 balls in England’s first innings. Australia claimed a small lead. England responded with 426 for 5 declared. Archibald MacLaren hit 140 and Jackson declared, having made an unbeaten 82. Chasing 402 to win, Australia was dismissed for 188, although Trumper was absent hurt. Bosanquet took a career best 8 for 107 from 32 overs and four balls. Albert (Tibby) Cotter was the only wicket of nine which fell that Bosanquet didn’t take in that innings. He made no great impact in the Second Test Match at Lord’s, hardly scoring runs and he didn’t bowl in the match. Bosanquet’s last Test Match was the Third Test Match at Leeds in 1905. He took 0 for 29 from 4 overs in Australia’s first innings, didn’t do much with the bat again and took his last wicket in Test Matches in the second innings, ending with figures of 1 for 36 from 15 overs. The last of his 25 Test Match victims was Noble, stumped by Lilley for 62. The match was drawn. England won the Fourth Test Match at Old Trafford by an innings and 80 runs. The final Test Match of the series at the Oval was drawn.

Bosanquet’s Influence

He only played 7 Test Matches – all against Australia – between 1903 and 1905. He made no impact as a batsman whatsoever. In 14 innings Bosanquet made a paltry 147 runs with no fifties, let alone centuries. His highest score was 27 – an average of just 13.36. But Bosanquet’s impact in Test cricket was as a bowler. He took 25 Test Match wickets during his career at an average of 24.16 runs per wicket. His strike rate was 38.8 balls per wicket. He bowled just 970 balls in Test Matches at a cost of 604 runs.

Bosanquet never took 10 wickets in a Test Match, but he did take two 5-fors – 6 for 51 and his best figures of 8 for 107. His wickets included 7 stumpings by wicketkeeper Dick Lilley, 3 leg before wickets and 7 were bowled. The remaining 8 wickets were catches – of which 4 were caught and bowled. He also took catches 5 off other bowlers.

The Arrival of the Wrong-un (Googly) in Australia

The manner that he took his wickets in Test Matches against Australia suggested that his bowling managed to deceive batsmen, indicating use of googlies, which were known as Bosies to Australians after him. However, there had been a warning earlier that year.

It was well known that Pelham (Plum) Warner, later Sir Pelham saw potential in Bernard Bosanquet’s googly long before many others, but before Bosanquet’s Test Match début in December 1903, he had visited Australia as part of Lord Hawke’s XI[1], which was led by Warner.

The first googly or wrong-un in Australia was bowled in the match between New South Wales and Lord Hawke’s XI in March 1903. Bosanquet did not bowl in New South Wales’ first innings – there was no need as Albert Trott took 6 for 88 in 20 overs as the hosts were dismissed for 144. Bosanquet’s first contribution in that match was a half-century – he made 52 before he was dismissed by Monty Noble. England was all out for 282. In their second innings Bosanquet shone, taking 6 for 153 from 30 overs and 1 ball. He dismissed the top 5 of New South Wales’ order, starting with the great Victor Trumper. It took the first googly in Australia to dismiss Trumper for 37, bowled by Bosanquet. New South Wales was all out for 463, setting a target of 326. The match petered out into a draw, but the googly had arrived in Australia. It was an international phenomenon before Bosanquet got to play his first Test Match.

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[1] Baron (Martin) Hawke – the seventh Baron Hawke – had played for Yorkshire for 28 seasons. He had led them to 8 county championships and been their president for four decades. He initiated the Yorkshire-born policy even though he himself was born in Lincolnshire.