Kent v Australia: The first home win

Kent Cricket honorary curator David Robertson continues his review of The Australians in Kent through the years.

After the first ever clash in 1882 ended in defeat for Kent, we move forward to 1884, the first home Ashes series was a keenly fought affair as the tourists sought to reclaim the urn won by England in 1883.

It was again the first match of Canterbury Week. E. Milton Small’s “Canterbury Cricket Week 1842-1891” records that “Thousands of excursionists poured into the City to witness the commencement of the match Kent v The Australians”.

It was the tourists’ 23^rd match of the season and they were looking to preserve their unbeaten record against the counties, but it was not to be.

Kent introduced the 21-year-old Alec Hearne, youngest of the three brothers, to face the tourists in his debut season.

His controversial selection for his fifth first-class appearance proved justified.

Hearne’s quickish leg-breaks yielded seven wickets in the match, including five in the first innings, for just 66 runs in 37.1 four-ball overs. This was a substantial contribution to Kent’s success.

Having won the toss, the home side’s total of 169 was a disappointment to the festive gathering, especially after scoring fifty in the first half-hour for the loss of one wicket.

But no batsman was able to settle in and opener Francis MacKinnon’s 28 was the highest score by a batsman in that innings, matched only by extras. Just one other batsman reached 20.

At close of play on day one, the visitors had reached 136 for four with big-hitting opener Percy McDonnell undefeated on 80.

Play ended with the run-out of Alec Bannerman for 18 after he and McDonnell put on 67 for the fourth wicket.

With the third ball of Alec Hearne’s first over on day two, he had McDonnell caught by his brother Frank, having not added to his overnight score.

The remainder of the innings unexpectedly subsided, only 41 runs being added for the last six wickets of which young Alec took five for nineteen in 53 balls. Kent had restricted the visitors to a lead of just eight runs.

By lunch, Kent had reached 87 for 4 in their second innings. The opening partnership of MacKinnon and wicket-keeper Kemp moved Kent into the lead with 42 runs on the board before Kemp fell for 21.

Between then and lunch a further three wickets went down, leaving Kent in a somewhat precarious position.

On resumption the situation got worse. Wilson was bowled by Palmer who was turning the ball both ways and becoming more difficult to play. The fall of the fifth wicket brought Frank Hearne in to join his captain, Lord Harris.

Their partnership of 80 was the highest of the match and with the final four wickets adding another 44 runs Kent’s total of 213 gave them a lead of 205.

Lord Harris’s 60 was Kent’s highest individual score of the match and second only to that of McDonnell’s first innings 80.

The Australians’ reply never looked like approaching their target. The first four wickets to fall, Bonner, Murdoch, Giffen and McDonnell, went down before fifty had been scored.

Alec Hearne with his leg breaks and fast bowler Frank Lipscomb, shared those four wickets.

There then followed a partnership of 33 between Henry Scott, and Bannerman but two further wickets fell before the close, including that of Scott, who a week later scored 102 in Australia’s mammoth 551 in the Oval Test.

The crowd on the final day witnessed just fifty minutes of play before Kent triumphed by the impressive margin of 96 runs. Alec Hearne and medium pace bowler James Wootton shared fourteen wickets in the match.

Another early finish and no “scratch match” this time.

Derek Carlaw wrote in Kent’s Fifty Finest First-Class Matches: “As captain and Kent’s top scorer, Lord Harris was carried in triumph round the ground and, although the crowd was not particularly large according to The Times, a spontaneous collection raised £80 to be divided amongst the four professionals.”

Kent became the first county to inflict defeat on the Australians since Nottinghamshire in 1880.

Kent 1-1 Australia