by Abhishek Mukherjee
1870. Surrey were struggling against Alfred Shaw and George Wootton after a very strong MCC put up 191 at The Oval.
The score read 51/7 when James Southerton, who had taken 7/68 earlier in the match, walked out to join Ted Pooley.
He cut the ball hard, with – this is important – his eyes closed, as he was allegedly guilty of doing from time to time.
WG Grace caught the ball on the bounce at point. The bounce was so obvious that not even Grace appealed.
Nobody else appealed, either. Neither were the umpires, James Mortlock or George Street, willing to give him out.
But Southerton thought otherwise, and a bizarre string of events followed. Everyone – teammates, fielders, umpires – tried to recall him, but he simply would not.
What to do? The scorers had little option but to note the dismissal as "J Southerton, retired thinking he was out, 0".
This was subsequently changed to a very boring retired out.
This happened on 25 July 1870
PS
Southerton redeemed himself later that season by taking 209 wickets that season. He was the first to breach the 200-wicket barrier.
He was 49 years 119 days old when he debuted, in the first Test in history. He holds this record as well.
And in 1880, he became the first Test cricketer to die.