Warren Bardsley: The legacy of the lesser-known 6th December-born

Shreyasi

Warren Bardsley [Source: X/@PictureSporting]Warren Bardsley [Source: X/@PictureSporting]

December 6 marks the birthday of several distinguished cricketers, including modern greats like Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. However, this date is also notable for being the birth anniversary of one of the earliest but lesser-known cricket icons, Warren Bardsley, an Australian left-handed batter.

Warren Bardsley: The Australian who achieved a unique feat during the Ashes 1909

Born in Warren, New South Wales, on December 6, 1882, Bardsley was named after his birthplace. During the 1909 Ashes tour at Birmingham, Warren made his Test debut and registered 2 and 6 runs in his first match. Then he went on to score 130 runs in his first 8 innings, with 46 being the highest score.

And then the floodgates opened. With Australia leading the series 2-1, in the fifth Test at the Oval, Bardsley batted for nearly four hours to record his maiden Test hundred. His 136-run knock with 12 boundaries made him the main contributor to Australia’s first innings of 325 runs.

England took a small 27-run lead, thanks to a century from Jack Sharp. For Australia, it was important to bat time to ensure that England did not get a chance to make the series 2-2 with a win.

Bardsley again showed the way. He, along with his fellow opener Syd Gregory, put up 180 runs for the first wicket before Gregory unfortunately ran out for 74. Bardsley was unaffected. His concentration was unmatched as he went on to complete his second century of the match. His knock of 130 runs was enough for Australia to draw the Test match and retain the Ashes.

With the century in the second innings, Bardsley reached untouched territories of Test cricket. He became the first cricketer to score hundreds in both innings of a single Test match.

A legendary list with a relatively rare feat in Test cricket

This remains a relatively rare feat in Test cricket, with only 98 such instances. Shubman Gill became the latest entrant on the list with his knocks of 269 and 161 against England at Birmingham. To date, only 80 players from 10 Test-playing nations have accomplished this feat.

The highest number of contributors in the list are from Australia, with 18 players scoring two centuries in a Test match in 25 instances. England is the next contributor with 12.

Only three players have achieved this accomplishment three times in their careers. Ricky Ponting and David Warner are the two Australians to complete this hat-trick of dual centuries in the same Test match. The other person is India’s own ‘Little master’ Sunil Gavaskar. Ponting completed his set of three in a frantic 5-month period between November 2005 and March 2006.

There were players like Clyde Walcott and Aravinda de Silva for whom multiple instances of registering two centuries in both innings of the same Test match happened in the same year.

Alongside Gavaskar, there are seven more Indians in the list, including greats like Vijay Hazare, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ajinkya Rahane. The youngsters Gill and Rishabh Pant achieved this feat in 2025 during India’s latest tour of England.

The 6th December born with multiple records

Bardsley went on to play 41 Test matches, scoring 2,469 runs at an average of 40.47. In his last tour of England in 1926, he recorded his highest Test score of unbeaten 193 in the second Test at Lord’s. This made him the oldest Test centurion for Australia.

In the next two Tests, Bardsley got the opportunity to lead Australia as Herbie Collins, the regular captain, was unwell. This made him the oldest player to make a Test captaincy debut at the age of 43 years 216 days.

Both Test matches he led ended in a draw. However, in his first innings as a Test captain, he became only the second man to be dismissed on the first ball of a Test match.

Bardsley is seldom mentioned among the celebrated stars born on December 6. However, his remarkable feat in 1909 ensures that his legacy remains an integral part of the game.