John Guise
Jan 2, 1927. An English pair posted the first ever century opening partnership for India.
by Arunabha Sengupta and Sumit Gangopadhyay
2nd January, 1927. Eden Gardens, Calcutta. After taking scheduled rest on New Year’s Day, the MCC batted their way to a 87-run lead.
With the classy Ewart Astill striking 66, and the great Maurice Tate throwing his bat around for 58, they looked set to go way way ahead of the paltry 146 put up by India. The hosts had been undone by Tate’s fiery bowling with six of their men falling to the Sussex pacer. However, the huge lead did not materialise. Sitting pretty at 220 for 5, the visitors were suddenly halted in their tracks by the occasional bowling of Ion Campbell.
This Punjab-born Surrey and Oxford batsman, whose uncle bearing the same name had represented India against Lord Hawke’s side at Allahabad in 1892-93, bowled extremely occasionally. But, here he accounted for both Tate and Astill and followed it up with another weighty scalp of skipper Arthur Gilligan as well. At the other end the slow left arm bowling of Rustomji Jamshedji foxed George Geary and George Boyes. MCC lost the last five wickets for just 13, thereby finishing their innings with 233. Campbell’s figures read 3 for 12. In 58 other first-class matches, he would take only two more wickets.
Campbell, in fact, was leading the India side.
The team, India on paper, had in their ranks 7 genuine Englishmen. Not only did they represent Europeans in India, they were also county cricketers.
Francis Brooke, the opening batsman doubling up as wicketkeeper, played a couple of seasons for Lancashire. John Guise, the other opener, played 57 times for Middlesex, 27 times for Oxford University. Hubert Ashton, Calcutta-born, was the only one who did not represent the Europeans in them Quadrangular, although he did play for Europeans in the East. He turned out 21 times for Essex. Jack Meyer scored nearly 3000 runs and captured 150-plus wickets for Somerset. Conrad Johnstone was a Kent man. And Alexander Hosie hit five hundreds for Hampshire.
Not really a home-grown India side, with only Wazir Ali, Nazir Ali, Jamshedji and CK Nayudu doing duty. However, that was just a quirk. At the Gymkhana Ground, two weeks earlier, Lodha Ramji had troubled the visiting batsmen, Janardan Navle had hit 74, and DB Deodhar a serene 148. Kekashru Mistry, the Parsee captain, had struck 51 from No 9. The fully native Indians had had the better of the draw, while Maharajah of Patiala had actually represented the MCC as he did again at the Eden.
Quite relaxed as far as the selection of the sides was concerned.
However, this match did have its additional oddity.
In the second innings, the India side tried to make a game of it. John Guise and Francis Brooke put on a determined display, adding 166 before being separated. Before Geary had brought his immense experience into play and had dismissed both, Guise had hit 91, Brooke 72.
It was the first ever century partnership for the first wicket in a first-class match for India. And curiously, this feat was achieved by an English pair.
Guise, born in Calcutta like Ashton, was playing in what can be justifiably called his home ground. He had already achieved fame by hitting a record 278 for Winchester College against Eton College at Agar’s Plough at the age of 17. He would play only two more first-class matches in India, the following season during the Quadrangular, before returning to England and taking up the profession of schoolteacher. In the early 1950s, he also wrote a couple of cricket related books.
Brooke was already a veteran in his early 40s. In 1908 he had achieved the distinction of scoring a half-century (53 and 41 in the two innings) and pouching 3 catches while playing for the Army versus Royal Navy, in the first ever inter-services match held at Lord’s. Curiously, towards the end of the MCC tour of 1926-27, Brooke played his final cricket match in the subcontinent when he represented Ceylon against the visitors at Colombo. He too returned to England after that and his remaining matches were all for the Army.
But, before their departures, this English opening pair did accomplish the first century stand for India.
What followed
In the end, however, their resistance did not manage to save the match. Tate ran through the middle order, Astill came on to bowl slow mediums and account for the lower middle order. The India team did well enough to set a target of 183, and the important wicket of Andy Sandham was gifted through an unnecessary run out. But RES Wyatt proved difficult to budge. Although the side tottered at 140 for 6 with Jamshedji threatening to run through the batting, the future England captain’s unbeaten 97 saw the tourists through with four wickets to spare.
Brief Scores:
India 146 (FRR Brooke 43, Maurice Tate 6 for 42) and 269 (Brooke 72, JL Guise 91, Tate 4 for 64) lost to MCC 233 (RES Wyatt 40, WE Astill 66, MW Tate 58) and 185 for 6 (Wyatt 97*, R Jamshedji 4 for 57) by 4 wickets