Attempting a long and boring cricket bio thread -

April 5 was the 125th birth anniversary of Major Mark Teversham who captained Mysore ( @teamkarnataka) in the first ever Ranji Trophy match. He was not much of a cricketer and this was his only first class match.

Mark Symonds Teversham came from a family of soldiers. His father Richard Kinlock Teversham was a colonel in the Indian army and grandfather, also Mark, was a Major.

Richard Teversham married Ethel Mary Symonds in Coimbatore in July 1886. He became a Captain two months later and was transferred to Burma where Mark was born on April 5, 1895.

Mark T studied at Cheltenham College, Sandhurst and Staff College, Quetta.

Commissioned to the Indian Army in 1915 and made a Major in 1932. Served in France, Flanders and Iraq in the First World War.

He served in Bangalore from 1933 to 1935. It was during this time that he captained Mysore in the first ever Ranji Trophy match.

It is recorded that he was made the captain because of his position and not cricketing knowledge or ability. He hardly knew his teammates.

The first Ranji match started on Sunday, November 4, 1934.

It was a rainy week in Madras. It had also rained during the previous night and it drizzled in the morning. The wicket was uncovered. Play started an hour late.

The captain of Madras was CP Johnstone, a famous sportsman and administrator, who has a claim to be called the father of cricket in Madras.

Johnstone won the toss and sent Mysore to bat. On the pitch softened by rain the toss was decisive. The match was scheduled for 3 days but ended 5 minutes before close on the first day.

Mysore made 48 & 59. Madras 130. It remains the shortest first class match played in India

Mysore did have a good team. According to some of the Madras players, had Mysore won the toss, it is possible that the result would have been different.

By the time Madras batted, after Mysore made 48, the wicket was unplayable.

C Ramaswami, Suvarna and MJ Gopalan hit out to score 20s.

The crucial mistake that Teversham made was to use YS Ramaswami, a leg spinner, for too long on a wicket not helpful for him.

YSR conceded 36 in 10 overs and at one point was hit for 3x4 in an over by Gopalan. Crucial runs in a low scoring match

MG Vijayasarathi, a tall off-spinner with a high action was introduced too late, as the 5th bowler. He took the last 6 as Madras went from 96/4 to 130 allout

Vijayasarathi would go on to become a famous umpire and a major figure in the Karnataka State Cricket Association.

Teversham scored a duck in the first innings and top scored with 11 in the second innings. He was the last man out, bowled off and middle by AG Ram Singh.

Ram Singh was Madras' hero with 11 wickets for 35 runs.

The match ended on the same day that it started.

The best story about the match is of a fan who went to the Bangalore railway station on the second morning to buy newspaper to read what had happened.

He saw the Mysore players getting down from the train on their return home.

As for Major Teversham, he moved to North West India soon after. He spent most of the rest of his career there till the Indian Indepence.

He became a colonel in 1942 and Brigadier in 1947. He married Evelyn Mary Ross and had twin sons & David Richard.

He retired to England where he died on November 11, 1973.

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