August 29, 1906 – George Hirst's greatest all-round show of all-time

Yorkshire toured The Bath in 1906 to face the home team Somerset at the Recreation Ground in what was the last County Champion game for both the teams. Yorkshire’s chance of winning the County Championship was hampered when they lost the previous game against Gloucestershire in Bristol by a 1-run margin. The Yorkshire team needed to defeat Somerset and at the same time had to hope that the table-toppers Kent suffer a defeat at the hands of Hampshire in the final round.

The main reason behind Yorkshire’s success in the season was George Hirst’s all-round performances. Hirst was the leading wicket-taker of the County season as he took 171 wickets at an average of 15.8 with 16 five-fers in the 27 matches he played till then. He was crucial for his team with the bat and was placed among the top five run-getters scoring 1543 runs at an average of 38.58 that included three centuries. In the crucial game against Somerset, it was once again up to him to guide them to a win.

Double trouble:

Hirst walked out to bat on the first day at the score of 161/3 after his team elected to bat first. He shared a 64-run stand for the 4th wicket with Tom Taylor and an 83-run partnership with Horace Rudston for the 5th wicket to take the team’s total past 300. Hirst scored runs at a good pace as he made 111 during his 155-minute stay at the crease with 22 boundaries. The visiting side ended the day on 347/8 and were eventually bowled out for 368.

Hirst then put his team on the top by running through Somerset’s batting. The left-arm pacer opened the bowling and had figures of 26-3-70-6 to bundle out the home team to just 125. With a 243-run lead in hand, Yorkshire decided to bat the last two hours of play left on the 2nd day. Hirst walked out to the middle at 78/1 after John Tunnicliffe got out scoring 38. The all-rounder scored his 2nd century of the game sharing an unbeaten double century stand with Wilfred Rhodes to take the lead past 500.

Hirst raced to 117 with 22 fours in just 75 minutes while Rhodes scored 115 with 18 boundaries before they ended the day on 280/1 batting only 45 overs. Yorkshire declared overnight to set a 524-run target in front of Somerset on the final day. George Hirst was the top performer for the 4th consecutive time in the game as his 2nd five-fer of the game reduced the hosts to 90/6 who eventually got bowled out for 134 to lose the game by a huge 389-run margin.

A first of a kind:

With the twin centuries and the twin five-wicket hauls, George Hirst became the first man in first-class history to achieve this double. No player has recreated Hirst’s feat in the 112 years since. However, two other players have scored 100s in both innings and took ten wickets in the same FC game. Middlesex’s Bernard Bosanquet against Sussex in 1905 and Franklyn Stephenson of Nottinghamshire in 1988 against Yorkshire took ten wickets in an FC in which they scored twin centuries.

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