The invention of the pads

Ouch! Wisden has printed a summary of the match which resulted in the introduction of the pad in 1836. The whole thing is worth reading, but here is what happened after England's best cricketer of the time (Alfred Mynn) faced the country's fastest pace bowler (Samuel Redgate):

Mynn beckoned Lord Beauclerk to him as he staggered into a tent before showing him his leg. Beauclerk, one of the virility cult who were against any leg-guards, was appalled at what he saw. He immediately sent for a stagecoach to take Mynn back to London. But Mynn was so huge, and the leg so inflamed, that he could not get inside, so he lay flat on the roof, where the luggage usually went. The uneven roads of the 1830s would have added considerably to Mynn's discomfort. He began his recovery at the Angel Tavern in St Martin's Lane in London, before moving on to St Bartholomew's Hospital, where eminent surgeons debated whether they could save his leg or not.

Perhaps this is how we can handicap the Aussies. I'd like to see them score 350 runs a day against Shoaib Akhtar without pads on...