On the 15 July, 1938, English cricketer Arthur Edward Fagg (1915-1977), set a first-class world record playing for Kent, when he scored 244 in the first innings and an undefeated 202 in the second innings, in a drawn match against Essex at Colchester, to become the first batsman in first-class cricket history to score double centuries in both innings of a match.

This feat was not equaled until 2019, when it was achieved in Sri Lankan domestic cricket by Angelp Perera.

A right-handed opening batsman Fagg first played for Kent at the age of 17. An England Test player at 21, he made his debut against India in 1936, and in all played a total of 5 Tests, but caught rhuematic fever on the tour of Australia the following winter, and missed the whole of the 1937 season.

Fagg’s final Test, was against the West Indies in 1939, although he remained a consistent scorer in county cricket until the mid-1950s. In all, he scored 58 centuries and more than 25,000 runs.

After retirement, he became a cricket umpire, officiating in eighteen Test matches and seven One Day Internationals. In an incident at Edgbaston in 1973, he refused to take the field after the West Indies team disputed one of his decisions.

Born in Chartham in Kent, Fagg died in Tunbridge Wells, aged 62.

15 July, 2019