Hugh Trumble

Early in the 1889–90 Australian season, Trumble endured a period where he was not able to take wickets consistently. With selection of the Australian team to tour England in 1890 due at this time, Trumble was anxious about this poor run of form. Noting his anxiety while playing, a friend offered him a beer during the lunch break to revive his spirits. Previously a teetotaler, Trumble enjoyed his first taste and ordered another before re-entering the field of play. Feeling relaxed, although wondering about his steadiness of step, Trumble took a succession of wickets to ensure his selection in the Australian team.[9] Trumble finished the season with 27 wickets at an average of 14.20 per wicket.[10]

The 1890 Australian team touring England was relatively inexperienced.[11] The team missed the all-round ability of George Giffen, who had refused to join the squad, thinking it unlikely the tour would be a sporting or financial success.[12] The Australians won 13 matches on tour, losing 16 and drawing 9.[11] Trumble made his Test cricket debut in the First Test against the English team at Lord's Cricket Ground. He took only one wicket, dismissing Bobby Peel caught and bowled for 1.[13] Batting at number eleven in the first innings he made 1 not out and in the second, 5 runs batting at number ten. Despite this lack of success, he retained his spot in the team for the Second Test at The Oval where he failed to take a wicket.[14] He was selected for the Third Test at Old Trafford but continuous rain saw the match abandoned without a ball being bowled.[15] Trumble played 28 first-class matches during the tour, scoring 288 runs at an average of 8.47 and took 52 wickets at an average of 21.75.[16][17] Wisden Cricketers' Almanack wrote, "Reports from Australia had led us to expect a great deal of ... Trumble" but his "straightness and regular length [were] insufficient to compensate for an obvious lack of 'devil' and variety".[18]

Trumble was not selected for the Australian team to play Lord Sheffield's touring English team in 1891–92. He did not return to the Australian team until his selection in the squad to tour England in 1893.[19] Before the Test matches he took 14 wickets for 116 runs (14/116) against the Players followed by 12/84 against Kent at Gravesend.[20][21] He played in all three Test matches in 1893, taking 6 wickets at an average of 39.00.[22] Trumble scored 58 runs in the Tests with a highest score of 35 but had more success in the other matches, scoring 774 runs, including one century in all first-class matches on tour.[23][24] Wisden noted that "An immense improvement on his form of three years before was shown by Hugh Trumble, who bowled consistently well all through the tour" and "... the reports of Hugh Trumble's improvement in batting were amply borne out, his hitting in many matches being remarkably fine".[19]

When Andrew Stoddart's English team visited Australia in 1894–95, Trumble played only one Test, the Second at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In the first innings, England scored 75 runs with Trumble taking 3 wickets. England fought back in their second innings, scoring 475 runs to win the Test by 94 runs; Trumble failed to take a wicket.[25]

An autographed photograph of Trumble taken in 1907, three years after his retirement from international cricket

Trumble was selected in the Australian team to tour England in 1896, despite a poor domestic season in 1895–96 that saw his place in the touring squad seriously questioned by pundits.[26] The leading cricket journalist, Tom Horan said that as much as he personally liked Trumble, he could not see him as a member of a team for the England tour that season.[27] It was, however, during this tour that Trumble finally established a permanent place in the Australian line up. Wisden said of Trumble when listing him as one of its Cricketers of the Year, "...it was not until his third visit, during the past season, that Trumble convinced Englishmen he was entitled to rank among the great bowlers of Australia".[26] In that season, Trumble took 148 wickets at an average of 15.81.[28] He was seen as Australia's leading bowler who "was able to inspire [the English] batsmen with a feeling of apprehension".[27] Wisden's summary of the 1896 Australian tour said of Trumble, "His great strength lay in the combination of spin with extreme accuracy" and "he was on all wickets distinctly the best bowler on the [Australian] side".[27]

England won the First Test at Lord's by 6 wickets, Trumble taking one wicket in each innings.[29] The Second Test at Old Trafford was more closely fought. Despite K. S. Ranjitsinhji scoring a "marvellous" 154 and Tom Richardson "bowling in his finest form" the Australians managed to hold on for a 3 wicket victory.[30] The Australians required 125 runs to win in their second innings and were expected to make this target easily. Richardson's skilful bowling however saw Trumble and Kelly batting together with only 3 wickets in hand but with 25 runs still to make. Against excellent bowling and in a tense atmosphere, the pair managed to bat Australia home with the last runs taking an hour to score, mainly in singles.[30] Trumble made 17 not out to follow his 24 runs in the first innings and his 4 wickets.[31] With the series tied at one Test apiece, the Third and final Test was played at The Oval in London. On a pitch damaged by rain, the English batted first and were dismissed for 145.[32] Trumble took 6 wickets for 59 runs, including a 9-over spell of 5 wickets for 10 runs.[32][33] England fought back to bowl the Australians out for 119. In turn, the Australians restricted England to 84 runs with Trumble taking 6 wickets for 30, to leave Australia requiring 111 runs in their second innings to win the match.[32][33] Bobby Peel and Jack Hearne combined to bowl Australia out for 44 runs to win the Test by 66 runs and retain the Ashes for England .[32] In the three Tests, Trumble took 18 wickets at an average of 18.83 runs per wicket.[34]

Trumble played in every Test of the 1897–98 series against the touring English, who were again captained by Stoddart. England won the First Test in Sydney by 9 wickets with Trumble's 70 runs the highest score in the Australian first innings.[35] Under the captaincy of Harry Trott, Australia fought back to win the Second Test in Melbourne by an innings and 55 runs. Trumble took 8 wickets in the match and in partnership with Monty Noble bowled the English out for 150 runs in the second innings.[36] Australia won the Third Test in Adelaide by an innings and 13 runs; Trumble made 37 runs in the Australian innings and took 1 wicket for the match.[37] In the Fourth Test, Trumble combined with Clem Hill in a 165 run partnership for the seventh wicket, described by Wisden as the turning point in the innings. Australia won the match by 8 wickets.[38] Australia won the Fifth Test and the series four Tests to one.[39] For the series overall, Trumble took 19 wickets at an average of 28.15 runs per wicket and scored 170 runs at an average of 36.20.[40][41]

The 1899 Australian tour saw Trumble score 1,183 runs and take 142 wickets; he was only the second Australian, after George Giffen, to score 1,000 runs and take 100 wickets in an English season as part of a touring team.[9] In the Test series, Trumble took 15 wickets at an average of 25.00 and made 232 runs at an average of 38.66.[42][43] Wisden said of Trumble's batting that season, "[Trumble] played so consistently well as to make it clear that if he had not been a bowler he would have been a great batsman".[44] Dry pitches saw his bowling average fall off a little from the 1896 tour but Wisden stated that he "bowled quite as well as in 1896" and "[he] never seemed easy to hit, and whenever the ground gave him least advantage ... he was deadly".[44] Australia won the Second Test by 10 wickets and with the other Tests finishing in draws, they retained the Ashes in a one Test to nil series victory.[44] Trumble played particularly well in the Third Test at Headingley, where he took 5 wickets for 60 runs and was the highest run-scorer in the Australian second innings with 56.[45] These efforts led him to achieve the number 1 ranking in ICC Test Bowler Rankings for the year 1899 (he retained it for the next 5 years).

At the age of 34, Trumble was chosen to captain the Australian team against England in 1901–02 when Joe Darling withdrew to manage his farm in Tasmania after the first three Tests. Australia won the two remaining Tests—the only occasions that Trumble would captain his country in Test cricket—to win the series four Tests to one.[5] Earlier, in the Second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Trumble took a "hat-trick"; only five hat-tricks had been taken in the previous 24 years of Test cricket.[46] He dismissed Arthur Jones, John Gunn and Sydney Barnes in successive balls to complete an Australian victory by 229 runs.[47] In the Third Test in Adelaide, Trumble captured 6 wickets for 74 runs in the England second innings and made 62 not out to help the Australians win the match by 4 wickets.[48] After this success with the bat, Trumble—in his new role as captain—promoted himself to open the batting alongside Victor Trumper. He made only 6 runs, handing the opening batsman role to Reggie Duff for the second innings. Australia won the Test by 7 wickets with Trumble not required to bat a second time.[49] In the Fifth Test, again in Melbourne, Trumble took 5 wickets for 62 runs to help restrict England to a lead of 45 runs after the first innings. In the second innings Trumble took another 3 wickets and, combined with Noble's 6 wickets, helped Australia win by 32 runs.[50] Trumble and Noble were the most successful Australian bowlers during the series. Together they took 60 wickets in the Tests: Noble 32 at an average of 19.00 and Trumble 28 at an average of 20.03.[51]

Trumble (third from left in the back row) with the 1902 Australian touring team, widely recognised as one of the strongest ever to represent Australia.[52]

Trumble's last cricketing tour of England was in 1902, with Darling returning to captain the Australian team. Early in the tour, Trumble broke his thumb at practice, causing him to miss the first month of the English season. Despite this, when he returned for the final three Tests he took 26 wickets.[9] In the Fourth Test at Old Trafford, Trumble took 10 wickets. This included 6 wickets in the second innings when he combined with Jack Saunders to bowl England out for 120; securing an Australian victory by 3 runs.[53] Trumble, recalling his final over of the match, said "With the ball greasy [wet] and my boots unable to get a proper foothold on slippery turf, it was the most trying over I ever bowled."[9] In the Fifth Test at The Oval, Trumble made 64 runs in the first innings and followed this with 8 wickets for 65 runs in the English first innings. He took another 4 wickets in the English second innings, but this was not sufficient to prevent an English victory by one wicket.[54] Darling bowled Trumble unchanged from the Pavilion end throughout both innings of the match.[55] Wisden praised Trumble's bowling saying "Trumble, paying us his fifth visit, bowled perhaps better than ever", but remarked that "it must be said that the wet weather and soft wickets were all in his favour"[56]

After playing in one Test match against the South African team on a stopover when returning from England to Australia, Trumble retired from Test cricket, aged 35.[9] When Australia lost to the English tourists in the First Test in Sydney in 1903–04, Trumble was persuaded to return for the Second Test under the captaincy of Noble.[9] He was immediately successful taking 4 wickets for 107 runs in the first innings and 5 for 34 in the second, but was unable to prevent England from winning the Test by 185 runs[57] Selected for the remaining four Tests, his 24 wickets in four Tests made Trumble the most successful Australian bowler in the series.[9] The writer Roland Perry described Trumble's final Test match as "the most dramatic and memorable farewell performance ever by a bowler".[5] In front of his home town supporters in Melbourne, he took 7 wickets for 28 runs, including a hat-trick, to bowl Australia to victory;[58] Wisden describing his bowling in the second innings as "practically unplayable".[59] The hat-trick, his second in Test cricket, consisted of the dismissals of Bernard Bosanquet, Plum Warner and Dick Lilley on 7 March.[47] He went on to take the wicket of Ted Arnold, ending the match and his career in international cricket.[58]