Bangalore Jaya Ram: WG Grace’s colleague who also went on the first all-India tour to England

Born April 23, 1872, Bangalore Jaya Ram (also spelled Jayaram) played for WG Grace’s London County. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at a member of India’s 1911 tour to England.

The story goes back to 1898, when Crystal Palace Company invited WG Grace to set up a cricket club. Grace was appointed Secretary, Manager, and, of course, captain of the side. They called it London County, with Crystal Palace as the home ground. Grace took this up as a full-time job, and terminated his contract with Gloucestershire in 1899.

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While Grace worked full time, he got others to play for London County while representing their respective counties. The list included big names like CB Fry, KS Ranjitsinhji, Johnny Douglas, Len Braund, Billy Murdoch, Gilbert Jessop, Albert Trott, AO Jones, John Gunn, Jimmy Sinclair, Bert Strudwick, Willie Quaife, Walter Brearley, Tom Richardson, and Louis Tancred.

There were also some unusual representatives: for example, there were Grace’s brother CB Grace and son WG Grace Jr; the fast bowling Dutch all-rounder Carst Posthuma; and an Indian who went by the name Bangalore Jaya Ram.

London County played their maiden First-Class match against Surrey at The Oval in 1900, losing by an innings. Five thousand miles away, a Brahmin called Jaya Ram had already made his first recorded appearance for Madras Natives against Madras Europeans.

The big achievement came in 1902-03 against the touring Oxford University Authentics. Mysore had conceded a 104-run lead to the tourists, and lost their openers cheaply. Jaya Ram top-scored with 97 (nobody else reached 40), and helped his side take a 144-run lead, albeit in vain.

Early days

Born in Bangalore, Jaya Ram went to Central College, Bangalore to study geology. He went to college along with India’s last Governor-General C Rajagopalachari. Jaya Ram managed to capture Rajagopalachari’s imagination.

Ramachandra Guha wrote in The Wisest Man in India: Aspects of C Rajagopalachari: “His [Rajagopalachari’s] own boyhood hero was B Jayaram, his fellow student…Jayaram was a greatly gifted left-handed [sic] all-rounder.” While still in college, he slammed 185 against Yorkshire Regiment as early as in 1891 (20 years before Mohun Bagan famously beat the same team) to pull off an unexpected victory. Unfortunately, the match was not given First-Class status.

Note: 1891 witnessed another significant incident in Indian cricket history, when Maharao Umed Singh II of Kota, playing for Mayo College, Ajmer, became the first Indian to take ten wickets in an innings. Just like Jaya Ram’s effort, this match also did not get First-Class status.

Guha added that their British principal wrote of Jaya Ram: “Had he the same opportunities as WG Grace he would have been as great, for he had an eye as quick and a wrist as supple as the Doctor’s.” Wisden wrote that Jaya Ran had, in the 1890s, “acquired the reputation of being about the best batsman in Southern India, who never played any bowler from behind the batting crease.”

The March 31, 1898 edition of Cricket added: “There were occasions when Indian batsmen of the 1890s — such as B Jayaram of Bangalore — were seen in England as ‘plucky’ on account of their playing without protective equipment. Jayaram’s role in the defeat of an English team was noted with admiration by cricket writers in England.”

London days

Jaya Ram, an employee at Mysore Civil Service, and went to London next year to study at the Royal School of Mines. It was there that he met WG. His cricketing prowess impressed everyone, and the press (rather unfairly) drew comparisons with Ranji, mostly based on the fact that they hailed from the same country.

Jaya Ram was a regular at London County nets, and made his First-Class debut in 1903 against Surrey at The Oval. He was primarily selected because he had scored 118 the previous week for London County in a minor match; the innings was witnessed by Ranji.

This match, the opening match of the season, was interrupted by snow and sleet. Grace could probably be held responsible for this: he arranged for an April 13 start (English seasons typically started in May). With Braund injured during the match and only Grace putting up a show, London County lost by eight wickets. Jaya Ram scored five and three.

When South Africa toured England in 1904 they played London County at Crystal Palace, and Jaya Ram got his second break. This time the hosts lost by 10 wickets, and scored 14 and 5. He played two more matches that season, and his London County career ended after four matches. His tally for the team read 57 runs at 8.14.

Back to England, for India

When the first All-India team toured England in 1911, Jayaram, then 39, was the oldest of the team, given that there were several members in their early twenties. The Indians lost their opening match against Oxford University by 8 wickets: Jaya Ram failed with 15 and 1.

One of Jaya Ram’s finest performances came against Lancashire at Old Trafford. The tourists were bowled out for 85 and 94, and lost by 9 wickets; Jaya Ram top-scored in each innings with 23 and 26.

The Indians were decimated by Surrey and Yorkshire. The matches also witnessed Jaya Ram score the only fifties of his career — 57 at The Oval and 53 at Hull. He also scored 30 and 81 against Scottish Universities at Perth (not the Australian one), 57 against Ulster at Belfast, and 78 against Woodbrook Club and Ground at Bray in consecutive innings.

Unfortunately, these matches were not given First-Class status. Jaya Ram’s First-Class record for the tour read 283 runs at 17.68. Additionally, outside First-Class cricket he scored 324 at an acceptable 27.

He finished with a First-Class career of 340 runs at 14.78. Some of his best innings (the 185, for example), unfortunately, were not given First-Class status, and neither are the scorecards obtainable.

Jaya Ram was appointed Director of Mysore Geological Department in 1916. He passed away at Bangalore on December 4, 1936. He was 64. His properties included the iconic Mashie Lodge on Lalbagh Road.

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)