Chasing Jessop

A forensic tour de force VIC MARKS

Engrossing ... Illuminating detective work into the astonishing statistics of English cricket's most enduring record ANDY ZALTZMAN

A fascinating and definitive account of one of cricket's most fabled innings JOHN ETHERIDGE

A compelling new look at the untold story behind one of English sport's oldest records.

In 1902, playing for England against Australia at The Oval, Gilbert Jessop played arguably the greatest innings in the history of cricket, turning what looked like a certain defeat into an incredible victory. He did so at such speed that he set a record for the fastest Test century for England, a record that still stands more than 1,000 Test matches later.

Even Ben Stokes’s team of Bazballers have been unable to overshadow a cricketer for whom all-out attack was the only way to play, long before T20 cricket was invented. However, the precise circumstances of Jessop’s astonishing performance have long been shrouded in mystery. The original scorebooks are missing, and the accepted truth that he took 76 balls to reach his century has rarely been scrutinised.

Drawing on an array of long-forgotten contemporary sources, Simon Wilde forensically reconstructs one of England’s most famous matches in an attempt to establish what really happened. How many balls did Jessop face? Might he have actually got to his hundred even faster?

Jessop’s relentless big hitting and fast scoring were revolutionary for cricket but resonated with a speed-obsessed era that saw the start of the modern Olympics, the first mile-a-minute trains, and the first 100mph cars, endearing him to the public. As C.B. Fry said of him: ‘No man has ever made cricket so dramatic an entertainment.’