Chasing Jessop: The mystery of England cricket's oldest record Simon Wilde
Event details
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 certain defeat into what became an incredible victory, and doing so at such speed that he set a record for the fastest Test century for England that still stands more than 1,000 Test matches later.
Even Ben Stokes's team of Bazballers have been unable to put in the shade a cricketer for whom all-out attack was the only way to play long before T20 cricket was invented. But 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.
Join Simon Wilde, cricket correspondent for the Sunday Times and author of Chasing Jessop, as he 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 than previously believed?
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Portrait Image credit: Peter Whyte
About the speaker
Simon Wilde has been cricket correspondent of the Sunday Times since 1998 and has reported on around 330 England Test matches and numerous World Cups. He has written 12 books, three of which were shortlisted for the William Hill sports book of the year. His books include the acclaimed England: The Biography, a history of the men’s national team, and The Tour, which won the MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year award. His latest book is Chasing Jessop: The Mystery of England Cricket's Oldest Record (Bloomsbury, 2025).
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