August 7, 1931 – When Surrey and Glamorgan declared their innings after facing one ball

Notorious declarations were quite common in the olden days during the County Championship where the teams tried their best to produce results. The players had to find ways to gain full points struggling against the country’s weather conditions which is inconsistent in every season around the year. The 1931 County Championship witnessed a first of its kind incident which hasn’t occurred in the 77 years since then.

Surrey visited Cardiff to take on Glamorgan at the Cardiff Arms Park but were welcomed by bad weather. The game that was supposed to begin on 5th August, lost two days of play due to rain and unfit outfield. It went down to the final day and both the teams wanted it to produce a result. Surrey were placed at 8th in the points tally out of the 17 teams while Glamorgan were 2nd last only ahead of Northamptonshire.

Two declarations on 0/0

Surrey skipper Percy Fender was known for his intellectual captaincy and walked out to open the innings after winning the toss. Fender opened with keeper Edward Brooks and the home team skipper Maurice Turnbull began the proceedings with the ball. It was only the 2nd time that Turnbull ever bowled in his 58-match first-class career. He bowled only one ball as after which Fender declared his team’s innings on 0/0.

Turnbull took the crease in his team’s first innings with their keeper Trevor Every. The Glamorgan captain emulated Fender as he also declared his innings on 0/0 after facing a delivery from his opposite number. Thus, the game came down to one-innings aside and Surrey got a chance to declare once again after making 214/3 in their 2nd innings. They declared the innings playing 61.4 over which soon after Andrew Sandham reached his hundred.

Chasing 215 to win, the hosts didn’t have any player batting long but a couple of 30s and 40s ensured they were in the hunt. Surrey fancied their chances after reducing Glamorgan to 172/7. However, an unbeaten 44-run 8th wicket stand between David Davies (9*) and Vivian Jenkins (40*) helped them get over the line. This match was the first occasion when both the teams declared their innings on 0/0 (excluding forfeits) in a first-class match.

The result probably inspired few other teams as the same was repeated in the next round game played between Warwickshire and Leicestershire in Birmingham. Both the teams declared their first innings after playing one ball as the first two days of the game had no play. The game, however, ended in a draw as the hosts made 85/3 in 26 overs in the response to Leicester’s 179/0 in 49 overs.

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