The tall and slim off-spinner, Hugh Trumble, tormented the opposition ranks by bowling quick through the air and extracting bounce with his height. He also had long fingers and that helped him to get turn. On English tracks, he was at his absolute best. Even on the truer wickets of Australia, he gave a good account of himself with his variations.

If we look back at his career, Trumble took his game to an elevated plane by snaring 36 wickets at an astronomical average of 6.77 in the 1887-88 season for the Melbourne Cricket Club. He also made his First-Class debut the same season. Trumble struggled to make an impact in the 1889-90 season, but after a while, found form and was drafted in the Australian squad for the Ashes in England in 1890. His performances were below par in the couple of Tests he played in England and soon lost his place in the side.

Even when he made a return to the set-up in 1893 and 1894-95 Ashes, Trumble didn't taste success. It was in the 1896 Ashes that Trumble finally began to prove his worth. On the softer wickets of England, with a combination of sharp spin and control, he mesmerised the opposition and took close to 20 wickets.

In the 1901-02 Ashes held Down Under, Trumble took over the mantle of captaining the side from Darling. Interestingly, he was appointed as the captain, only because Darling wanted to work in his farm. He captained the unit in two Tests and the hosts won the series 4-1. Earlier in the series, in the second Test, he took a hat-trick. At that time, only five bowlers had achieved that milestone.

Trumble was perhaps at his best during his last tour to England in the 1902 Ashes. He prised out 26 batsmen and registered a 10-wicket haul in that series. Trumble decided to hang up his spiked boots after the one-off Test match against South Africa in Johannesburg in 1902-03. But as Australia lost the first Test of the Ashes in 1903-04, he was coaxed to return to the side by the then captain, Monty Noble. He played a stellar role by picking up 24 scalps in the series. Yet, he couldn't prevent the visitors from edging out Australia. It turned out to be the final hurrah for Trumble. He ended his career with 141 wickets. It was a world record for most number of wickets at that time.

By Bharath Ramaraj