Australia’s slow left-arm spinner Joe Travers became the first OTW of the new century. In the final Test of the 1901-02 Ashes Played at Melbourne in 1901-02, taking one wicket (Tom Hayward) in eight overs; he did not bowl in the second innings.. Batting at no. 11 position he mad just 9 &1.
In the 4th Test of the 1902 Ashes played at Old Trafford, Fred Tate made his debut as well as last appearance in Test Cricket. This test match is still referred as ‘Tate’s Match’, not because of his batting or bowling or fielding , but for lack of them. Australia retained Ashes in one of the most dramatic Test matches in the history of cricket, winning it by just three runs after several fluctuating fortunes. Fred Tate who, in his only Test which was started on his birthday, dropped a vital catch and was himself bowled played a wild swipe, the last wicket to fall when his side needed four runs to win. He made just 5* & 4 and took 0/44 & 2/7. He also held one catch in each of the Australia’s innings. On his way home from the match, Tate told a team-mate that he had a little boy who would make it up one day. He did, indeed: this was Fred's son Maurice Tate, an outstanding swing bowler who was to take 155 Test wickets.
Henry Taberer and George Thornton of South Africa were the next OTWs of Test Cricket when they played their only Test at Johannesburg in the 1st Test of the 1902/03 series against Australia. Taberer made just 2 runs and Thornton remained unbeaten on 1, in the only they batted. They each took a wicket in Australia’s 1st innings. Thornton also caught Hugh Trubmle in the same innings. Taberer, who captained South Africa in his only Test, once, for a bet, threw a cricket ball 100 yards while standing in a tub.
James ‘Biddy’ Anderson , who replaced Taberer as the captain of South Africa in the next Test of the same series played at the same venue became the next OTW. He made 32 in the 1st innings and 11 in the 2nd. He also caught the opposing captain Joe Darling in the 1st , but he himself was caught by Darling in the 2nd and could not prevent South Africa collapsing for 85 while chasing a target of 245.
Next OTW, Percy Sydney Twentyman Jones, who represented South Africa at both cricket and Rugby football, made his only Test appearance in the next and 3d Test of the same series at Cape town. He did not make a single run and was clean bowled for a duck in both the innings, which SA lost by 10 wickets.
3rd Test of the 1905 Ashes played at Leeds introduced the next OTW, England’s Arnold Warren. Warren had an impressive debut by taking 5/57 and 1/56. He clean bowled Victor Trumper for 8 and had him caught by George Hirst for a duck. He made 7 runs in the only innings he batted and was runout.
The next OTW, South Africa’s Stanley Delacourtte Snooke, who played his only Test along with his brother, SJ , against England at the Oval in the 3rd Test of the 1907 series, did not meet with the same success as a Test cricketer as his brother. In his only Test appearance he did not score, but brought off two good catches. One of them was to dismiss GL Jessop.
In the 2nd Test of the 1909 Ashes John King of England , top scored with 60 for his team in the 1st innings but was out for 4 as England were reduced to 24 for 6. England went on to lose the Test by 9 wickets. John King in addition to his 60 has also taken a wicket in Australia’s 1st innings. He is one of the very few cricketers to have involved in a peculiar dismissal of given out for hitting the ball twice. In 1906, playing for Leceistershire against Surrey at The Oval , he stopped the ball rolling into his stumps, and then tried to run a single, thus getting declared out as hitting the ball twice. It was the last such instance in England in first class cricket.
Douglas Carr, who practiced the art of bowling googly for more than 4 yrs playing only club cricket, suddenly came into limelight in 1910. Aged 37, he played his 1st first class game for Kent during the 1910 season and became one of the very few England Cricketers to have gone to play in Test Cricket in his 1st first class season. Carr making his debut in the 5th Test of the 1909 Ashes, was dismissed for a duck playing at no. 11 position , but he went on to take 5/146 & 2/136. Though he had a very good Test debut, he was never recalled to represent England again. He said about the googly he worked so hard for so long, ‘I am quite certain of one thing, and that is that in a very short time everybody will be quite able to distinguish between the two breaks.". He proved out to be correct.
South Africa’s Claude Floquet, who was an opening batsman, though played just 6 fist class matches, batted at no. 8 and no.11 positions in his only Test appearance against England in the 3rd Test at Johannesburg in 1909-10 - scoring 1 and 11 not out. He did not have any success with the ball either going for 24 runs in the 8 overs he bowled. He represented Transvaal and toured Australia with South Africa in 1910-11 but did not play in any of the Tests. He died on the same day, Nov 22nd, 1963 at an age of 79 years, as President Kennedy was assassinated.
It took seven and half years for a Test match to have more than one OTW in the same Match. All three debutantes of the 5th Test of the 1909/10 England Vs South Africa Series, Neville Tufnell
Septimus Paul Kinneir of England was the next OTW. He opened with Jack Hobbs in the 1st Test of the 1911/12 Ashes played at Sydney and made a useful contribution with the bat making 22 & 30. But at a Time, when England had stalwarts like Hobbs, Woolley, Rhodes he never got another opportunity to play a test either in that series or after that. England’s JWHT Douglas, who too made his debut alongside Kinneir, captained the side in this match.
John Mclaren became the 100 the player to represent Australia in the 5th Test of the same series when he made his debut at Sydney. Though he was not dismissed in both the innings, he did not make any runs either. He just took 1 wicket in the 1st innings and went wicketless in the 2nd as England won the Test by 70 runs thus wrapping the Ashes with 4-1 victory.
South Africa added 4 of the seven Test debutantes to the OTW club when they played against England in the 1st Test of the 1913/14 Series at Durban. Of the four OTWS of this Test Harold Baumgartner, Alfred Cooper, Percy Lewis, and George Tapscott, Only Baumgartner could make some meaningful contribution in this match which was won by England by an innings and 157 runs. He made 16 and 3 as SA was folded out for 182 % 111 in their two innings. Baumgartner also clean bowled Hobbs for 82 and England’s top scorer JWHT Douglas for 119. For other OTWs of this Test their lone Test match was anything but memorable. Percy Lewis was dismissed for a pair. Cooper made 6 & 0 whereas Tapsoctt made 4 & 1. Except Precy Lewis all OTWs held once catch for SA in the only innings that England batted.
3rd Test of the same series played at Johannesburg saw South Africa’s Cecil Dixon and Len Tuckett getting pairs in their only appearance in Test Cricket Dixon, playing his just 4th first class match dismissed Jack Hobbs twice in the Test match and had bowling figures of 2/62 and 1/56. But Tuckett could not take a single wicket though he bowled 10 overs in each of the England’s innings, which England won by 70 runs. Tuckett, though best known as a bowler, he helped to establish a world batting record in 1925-26 when, playing for Orange Free State, he shared in a three-figure stand for the last wicket in each innings against Western Province. In the first innings he and L. G. Fuller put on 115 and in the second F. Caulfield helped him add 129.
Frederick Le Roux of SA became the next OTW, in the next and 4thTest of the same series played at Durban.He made just 1 & 0 with bat and did not take any wicket in the 9 overs he bowled, 6 in the 1st and 3 in the 2nd.
In the 5th and final Test of the same series, South Africa’s Reginald Hands made his debut along with Eric Lundie. For both of them this proved out to be their 1st and last test. Reginald Hands, who was playing along with his brother Phillip, made just 0 & 7 and was stumped in both innings. Lundie, though did not make any contribution with the bat (0* & 1) did pickup 4 wickets in England’s 1st innings including that of Jack Hobbs & JWHT Douglas. Jack Hobbs hit the winning runs of the bowling of Lundie in the 2nd as England easily scored the 11 runs required for the victory without losing a wicket.
Incidentally this Test match was the last Test match played before the First World War as Test Cricket took a long hiatus of 7 years since its inception in 1876. In the 134 Tests that were played for during the 36 years OTW Club had as many as 96 OTWs excluding WL Murdoch & JJ Ferris One Test Appearance for England.
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