Laker's 19 and other solo spells

On July 26 fifty years ago, England and Australia began the fourth Test of the 1956 Ashes. Five days later Jim Laker had taken 9 for 37 and 10 for 53, a statistical anomaly that no bowler has come close to beating since. Only Anil Kumble has emulated Laker by taking all ten wickets in an innings but, on that occasion, he had managed only four in the first innings. If you were to bet on one record that would stand longer that all others, place your money on Laker's 19 for 90.

In that series, Laker was, by some distance, the highest wicket-taker with 46 scalps. Tony Lock, Laker's Surrey spin partner, was England's second-most successful bowler with 15 wickets. The 31 wickets that separated Laker and Lock ranks as the second-highest difference between team-mates in a series. Keith Miller was Australia's best bowler but even he finished 25 wickets behind Laker. The Australians were given a premonition of things to come when Laker took 10 for 88 during their tour match against Surrey. Click here for the list of bowlers who've taken all ten wickets in an innings in first-class cricket.

Only Sydney Barnes has taken more wickets in a series than Laker's 46. On England's 1913-14 tour of South Africa, Barnes was rampant, taking 10 for 105, 17 for 159, 8 for 128 and 14 for 144. In all he bowled 226 overs and took 49 wickets in just four Tests. The next highest wicket-taker for England was their captain Johnny Douglas who took ten.

Biggest difference between a team's largest and the second largest wicket-taker in a series

Player	Wkts	Next	Diff	Mat		Series	Season
SF Barnes	49	10	39	5		England in South Africa	1913/14
JC Laker	46	15	31	5		The Ashes	1956
GA Lohmann	35	5	30	3		England in South Africa	1895/96
Harbhajan Singh	32	3	29	3		Border-Gavaskar Trophy	2000/01
AV Bedser	39	13	26	5		The Ashes	1953
RJ Hadlee	33	7	26	3		Trans-Tasman Trophy	1985/86
MH Mankad	34	10	24	5		England in India	1951/52
SF Barnes	34	11	23	3		South Africa in England	1912
SF Barnes	39	17	22	0		Triangular Tournament	1912
SP Gupte	34	12	22	5		New Zealand in India	1955/56

Laker's 19 for 90 and Lock's 1 for 106 at Old Trafford was only the fourth instance of two bowlers taking all 20 opposition wickets in a Test. Since then it has occurred only twice (six times in 1809 Tests to date), the most recent being Bob Massie and Dennis Lillee at Lord's in 1972.

The first instance of two bowlers taking all 20 wickets was at Melbourne in 1902 when Monty Noble snapped up 13 for 77 and Hugh Trumble took 7 for 87. Heavy rain had made the pitch unsuitable for batting. Trumble and Noble shot England out for 61 in just 15.4 overs after Australia had made 112. Joe Darling kept some of his batsmen in reserve in the second-innings and once the pitch had eased up the specialist batsmen coming lower down the order prospered. Reggie Duff scored a century on debut at No.10 as Australia set England an impossible 405 to win. The run-chase ended on 175.

Two bowlers taking all 20 wickets in a match

Player	Figs	Player	Figs		Match	Ground	Season	Scorecard
MA Noble	13/77	H Trumble	7/87		Aust v Eng	Melbourne	1901/02	Test 66
C Blythe	11/102	GH Hirst	9/86		Eng v Aust	Birmingham	1909	Test 101
AEE Vogler	12/181	GA Faulkner	8/160		SAf v Eng	Johannesburg	1909/10	Test 106
JC Laker	19/90	GAR Lock	1/106		Eng v Aust	Manchester	1956	Test 428
Fazal Mahmood	13/114	Khan Mohammad	7/112		Pak v Aust	Karachi	1956/57	Test 430
RAL Massie	16/137	DK Lillee	4/140		Aust v Eng	Lord's	1972	Test 699

Laker was also the first bowler to dismiss all 11 opposition batsmen in a match. In the first innings at Old Trafford, Lock snared Jim Burke and Ray Lindwall remained not out. Both fell to Laker the second time around while Ian Johnson, whom Laker had bowled in the first innings, was unbeaten. This feat, too, has been performed only on six occasions - four times by spinners - with Muttiah Muralitharan being the last to do so during his 13 for 171 against South Africa in at Galle in 2000.

Dismissing all 11 opposition batsmen in a match

Player	Figs		Match	Ground	Season	Scorecard
JC Laker	19/90		Eng v Aust	Manchester	1956	Test 428
S Venkataraghavan	12/152		India v NZ	Delhi	1964/65	Test 583
G Dymock	12/166		Aust v India	Kanpur	1979/80	Test 857
Abdul Qadir	13/101		Pak v Eng	Lahore	1987/88	Test 1081
Waqar Younis	12/130		Pak v NZ	Faisalabad	1990/91	Test 1153
M Muralitharan	13/171		SL v SAf	Galle	2000	Test 1504

Largest percentage of wickets in the whole match (qualification: Minimum 10 wickets in the match)

Player	Figs	Total	%		Match	Ground	Season	Scorecard
JC Laker	19/90	30	63.33		Eng v Aust	Manchester	1956	Test 428
N Kapil Dev	8/85	13	61.54		India v Pak	Lahore	1982/83	Test 947
SF Barnes	17/159	30	56.67		Eng v SAf	Johannesburg	1913/14	Test 131
RJ Hadlee	15/123	27	55.56		NZ v Aust	Brisbane	1985/86	Test 1029
M Muralitharan	16/220	30	53.33		SL v Eng	The Oval	1998	Test 1423
Danish Kaneria	12/94	23	52.17		Pak v Bang	Multan	2001/02	Test 1560
CA Walsh	13/55	25	52.00		WI v NZ	Wellington	1994/95	Test 1289
Imran Khan	14/116	27	51.85		Pak v SL	Lahore	1981/82	Test 927
J Briggs	15/28	30	50.00		Eng v SAf	Cape Town	1888/89	Test 32
H Verity	15/104	30	50.00		Eng v Aust	Lord's	1934	Test 234