by Abhishek Mukherjee
Lionel Tennyson, born Nov 7, 1889, had bags and bags of guts, and a near-incurable knack of gambling.
His most heroic effort came against Armstrong's Australians, who had just swept England 5-0 at home, just after the first World War. Both teams sailed to England together, following which Australia beat England in 2 consecutive Tests.
Now the selectors sacked Douglas as captain, replacing him with Tennyson.
Here, at Headingley, Tennyson placed himself at silly mid-off. Sure enough, Macartney hit one so hard that it split the webbing between Tennyson's thumb and forefinger.
He was not expected to bat anymore.
Then Hobbs went down with pain. They diagnosed appendicitis, and had to operate *during* the Test, effectively reducing England to ten men – including Tennyson.
Australia got 407. As his teammates were busy getting out, Tennyson did some introspection ("I have always been abnormally strong in the right forearm, fingers and wrist; could I wield a bat right-handed for a bit and get at least a few runs for our side that day?").
He emerged with a bandaged hand, at 165/7. He held the bat with his right hand (he batted right-handed) – but he was a strong man. There are several descriptions of his one-handed strokes including one over slip (how?).
Here are some excerpts.
The Age (Melbourne): He had a sensational over from Gregory, driving and cutting past cover and through the slips, boundaries resulting.
Daily Standard (Brisbane): Tennyson’s forward play was great, and though Gregory was bowling in masterful fashion, pitching the ball on the 'blind spot' with great accuracy, he had no terrors for the English captain, who scored freely, where orthodox batsmen would have defended.
However, there was one curious sentence, in the Newcastle Sun: Tennyson appeared to use *both hands* without difficulty,
He eventually got 63 as England reached 259. Armstrong then set a target of 422. Tennyson, arriving at 128/6, raced to a 36-ball 36. This included a spectacular shot: a six off Mailey.
WITH ONE HAND.
Note:
The Cricinfo scorecard does not mention this six but the Cricketarchive one does. And of course Charles Davis' database does, so we are sorted.
Davis' research also mentions Tennyson being the first in Test cricket to bat one-handed.
But this was nothing compared to what Tennyson had stood up to a few years before this.
He fought with valour in The Great War, at times leading his troops to near-crazy missions. For example, he once got to know that about 150 Germans, armed with machine guns, were posted in a village – a strategic point in the War.
Tennyson led the charge before anyone expected him to. The Germans were taken by such surprise that the English win was near-bloodless.
A brave man? A gambler? Both? You decide.
He was wounded thrice before he was finally discharged.
However, his craziest, most absurd story is from his teenage days.
Circa 1908.
William Grenfell, 1st Baron of Desborough, was married to 'Ettie' Fane, granddaughter of the 1th Earl of Westmorland. Ettie was "beautiful heiress, accomplished flirt, aristocratic hostess, tragic mother, and Edwardian icon."
The marriage lasted despite Ettie's numerous relationships. Her list of suitors included, among others, Rudyard Kipling, Oscar Wilde, HG Wells, Siegfried Sassoon, Henry Irving, Edith Wharton, and Edward VII (then Prince of Wales).
She was also the confidante to six British Prime Ministers: Primrose, Balfour, Asquith, Baldwin, Chamberlain, and Churchill.
Julian, The Baron's eldest son. was a year older than Tennyson, while George, the second son, was a year younger. Naturally, Tennyson visited them quite often at Taplow Court.
Churchill, who had just became MP of Dundee, was there during one of Tennyson's visits. Three and a half decades later he would be responsible for the Bengal Famine, but this is not the time to discuss that.
Churchill and Ettie were busy in conversation on the bank of The Thames. It is easy to visualise Churchill — no less — at his immaculate best, in top hat, frock coat, stiff shirt and collar.
Unfortunately, this attire was too tempting a target for Tennyson and the Grenfell brothers: "Charging all together from behind, the Grenfell brothers and myself sent him flying with a mighty splash far into the river."
What followed?
Let me quote Tennyson again: "Mr. Churchill behaved in the most sporting manner imaginable about it, and on regaining the shore, dripping and hatless as he was, interceded for us with Lady Desborough in an address which I have never heard excelled for humour and the arts of advocacy.”