*Bobby Peel: Curious place to end his First-Class career*

by Mayukh Ghosh

In 1899, the Australians played 35 First-class matches in England. In just four months.
The hue and cry about continuous cricket played by the modern cricketers is exaggerated and players from the distant past too had hectic match schedules to follow.

One of those 35 matches was a strange one. It was played in Tremorvah, Truro in Cornwall on July 7th and 8th.
It was squeezed between the third and fourth Ashes Test match. The Australians travelled close to 1000 miles in a span of two weeks of virtually non-stop cricket.
Leeds- Nottingham- Truro- Birmingham- Bristol- Manchester.
All fixtures except the one in Truro were usual business.

It is believed that the fixture was the brainchild of Lord Robartes and the Truro Club. Lord Robartes was a MP for Cornwall East and initially it was thought that the England team would be called Lord Robartes XI.
Later, though, they took field as England XI. Only two from the playing XI of the previous Test were fielded.
On the other hand the Australians fielded a Test team and won the match rather easily.
Joe Darling scored a half-century and the hosts had no answer against Ernie Jones’ fast bowling (7 for 31) in the first innings, and Harry Howell’s deception (6 for 36) in the second. The Australians won by 8 wickets after making the hosts follow on.

It was Bobby Peel’s final First-class match. He did quite well with 4 for 95 in the first innings and 23-14-18-1 in his final bowl. And this remained the only match at that level to be ever played on that ground.

It was the only First-class match in the career of Robert Roles, one of the umpires.

The last recorded game on the ground was played in 1952. Its location is uncertain, and many believe that it had been buried under either a housing estate or the Truro Magistrates Court.

A little-known name but Truro and its Tremorvah Ground entered cricket history on the day they hosted the Australian team in 1899.