HT Archives: Laker's mark: Eng off-spinner takes out 10 in 1 innings

Hindustan Times

5 days ago

When Jim Laker produced a 'perfect 10' England's Jim Laker (second from right) walks off the field at Old Trafford after taking all ten Australian wickets for just 53 runs in the second innings to win England the match and increase his personal haul for the match to a world-record 19 wickets. (PA Images via Getty Images)
Great achievements that magnify human endeavour have a timeless quality — climbing Mount Everest for the first time or running the first sub-four minute mile, for instance.
Test cricket's greatest single performance came in the summer of 1956, when England off-spinner Jim Laker made history by becoming the first bowler to capture all 10 wickets in an innings.
Laker's magnificent 10/53 came in the Australian second innings of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford, after a near-perfect storm had hit their first innings where he captured 9/37. Laker's match haul of 19/90 remains the greatest bowling feat in Test cricket by some distance. No one else has claimed more than 17 wickets even in the history of first-class cricket.
'An astonishing performance' was how Australia legend Richie Benaud, one of those swept up in the wake of Laker's relentless performance, would recall that performance at a 50th year anniversary in London.
It had been 12 years since Don Bradman's retirement and Australia were a weak side. England had won the previous two Ashes series in 1953 and 1954.
Laker, a medium-pacer and batsman to start with, was advised while serving in the British army that he switch to bowling off-spin to get into the strong Army team.
The Yorkshire-born who would dazzle on Lancashire turf, rose to prominence after joining Surrey county. At The Oval, he and left-arm spinner Tony Lock proved a great combination on turning pitches. Although there was an 8/21 for England versus Rest in 1950, and a 11-wicket Test haul the next year to beat South Africa, he wasn't a regular yet.
Laker though made his presence felt in the county scene. In 1952, he took 100 wickets for Surrey alone and was named one of the five Cricketers of the Year by Wisden.
His first brush with Australia was against Bradman's 1948 side, but his impact wasn't great.
However, the Laker of 1956 was a different deal. Armed with a slightly round-arm action with a nice flight, he was tellingly accurate too.
And the Laker lightning did strike twice that summer.
Earlier on the tour, playing for Surrey at the Oval, he captured 10/88 in the visitors' first innings. It would thus be the only time a bowler would take a 10-for twice in a season. Lock was in step, capturing 7/49 in the second innings to dismiss the Aussies for 107.
The first Test was drawn and the visitors won the next at Lord's by 185 runs. England won the third Test at Leeds as Australia struggled against the two finger spinners of different qualities.
'They could both play, it wasn't disruptive,' recalled former England batsman Peter Richardson, who made his Test debut in that series, in a 2006 get-together, in comments compiled in a Grandstand cricket podcast.
A powder-dry Old Trafford pitch was bad enough, and when England skipper Peter May won the toss and the hosts amassed 459, Australia were clearly struggling.
Lock removed one of the openers, but it was Laker all the way after that. Australia batsmen were more comfortable playing the orthodox left-arm spinner, dealing with him as they would a leg-break bowler to the right-hander.
Laker claimed 9/37 in the first innings as Australia were shot out for 84. Australia leg-spin great, Bill O'Reilly, in his special report of the Test for Hindustan Times, describes it thus:
'From the time that May switched his spinners round to let Laker bowl with the gentle breeze from the same end as (Australian off-spinner Ian) Johnson had collected four wickets, the procession began and nine victims fell foul of the off-spinner's accurate bowling.
'Lock gave an outstanding example of the manner in which a bowler can bowl too well to get wickets. Time and again, he got orthodox leg-breaks to jump and turn away so quickly that no batsman except (opener Jim) Burke was quick enough to get the bat to the ball.'
Asked to follow-on, Australia lost the first wicket to Laker by stumps on third day. Only rain could save Australia and though Day 4 was washed out, the pitch only became more unplayable. Neil Harvey bagged a pair and the great all-rounder Keith Miller was out for zero and 6.
Harvey recalled the sharp turner that bowled him in the first innings, 50 years later.
'Much has been said about the Warne-Gatting ball (at Old Trafford in 1992). That ball that Jimmy bowled to me at Old Trafford in 1956 was just as good as Shane Warne bowled to Mike Gatting.'
The perfect 10 was sealed on July 31 when Laker trapped last man Len Maddock leg before. A simple handshake with Australia skipper Ian Johnson, the non-striker, and the umpire followed before Laker collected and threw on his flannel over the left shoulder and walked off, carrying a big chunk of cricket history as he led his team off the field.
It would take another 33 years for Anil Kumble to emulate Laker with another 10-for (10/74), against Pakistan at Delhi in 1999, New Zealand left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel joining that elite two with his 10/119, versus India in Mumbai in 2021.