Nineteen for Ninety: Jim Laker at Old Trafford, 1956

Some sporting feats are so extreme that they make you doubt the scorebook. Nineteen wickets in a single Test match, against the best batting side in the world, by one bowler in a single week. When Jim Laker walked off the field at Old Trafford in July 1956, he had done something that has not been matched in the many decades since, and may never be again.

The man and the moment

Laker was a Yorkshireman who played his county cricket for Surrey, where he formed part of a famously strong side. He was an off-spinner of great accuracy, with a high action and the ability to make the ball turn sharply and bounce awkwardly. He was not flamboyant, and his manner was calm and dry, but his skill with the ball was formidable.

The 1956 Ashes series saw England take on an Australian team that included Neil Harvey, Richie Benaud and Colin McDonald, with Ian Johnson captaining. It was a strong group, and Laker had already shown that he could trouble them. In a tour match for Surrey earlier that summer, he had taken all ten wickets in an innings against them. Few expected him to do something even more extreme in the Test.

England build a platform

The fourth Test at Old Trafford began with England batting first on a pitch that looked dry and likely to turn. Peter Richardson made a century, and Colin Cowdrey added a fluent 80. England's total of 459 was a big score for the era, particularly on a surface that was already showing signs of wear.

The question was how the pitch would behave. Rain had affected the preparations, and the surface had been the subject of discussion. As the match unfolded, the answer became painfully clear for Australia: it was a turner, and England had two outstanding spinners ready to use it.

The first innings

Laker, bowling in tandem with Tony Lock, a left-arm spinner, tore through the Australian batting. The ball turned and bounced, and batsmen played and missed or were caught close to the wicket. Laker took nine for 37, and Lock took the other wicket. Australia were bowled out for 84, an innings that lasted barely a few hours.

It was a thorough collapse, and England enforced the follow-on. The tourists, trailing by 375, had to bat again, and the only hope was that rain might save them.

The second innings

Rain did interrupt play, and for a time it seemed as if Australia might escape. Colin McDonald played a resilient innings, and others dug in. But the pitch was still helping the spinners when the weather cleared, and Laker went back to work.

This time, he took all ten wickets, finishing with figures of 10 for 53. Lock, who had bowled just as many overs and as accurately, had no reward. It was one of those cruel days in cricket in which the luck and the skill fell entirely on one side. Australia were all out for 205, and England had won by an innings and 170 runs.

How he did it

Laker's method was a lesson in discipline. He bowled a tight line on or just outside off stump, with plenty of drift in the air and sharp turn from the surface. The close fielders, led by the catchers around the bat, were rarely given a difficult chance. Batsmen who tried to attack him found the ball spinning away or gripping and bouncing, and those who defended often edged to the cordon.

It helped that he was so well supported. Lock bowled with great skill from the other end and, despite finishing with one wicket in the match, applied pressure that made batsmen take risks against Laker. The partnership of two outstanding spinners, with contrasting styles, was a feature of Surrey and England cricket in that era.

The tourists were left reflecting on a series in which they had been outbowled on turning pitches. Their batsmen were among the best in the world, but they were not at ease against spin in English conditions, and Laker had found the weakness repeatedly.

The match also changed how Laker was seen. Until then he had been regarded as a dependable county and Test bowler. Afterwards he was a legend, and the scorecard, with its row of wickets credited to a single name, became one of the most studied in the sport. Generations of young spinners have looked at it and wondered how anyone could be so complete in his mastery.

A record that endures

The numbers have never been equalled. Laker's nineteen wickets are the most in any Test match, and his ten wickets in an innings stood alone as the only such feat in Test cricket until Anil Kumble took ten against Pakistan in Delhi in 1999. Across the series, Laker took 46 wickets, giving a crushing demonstration of the power of a spinner on a helpful pitch.

England retained the Ashes that summer, and Laker's name became permanently attached to the match. He remained modest about it, and those who knew him say he never boasted. In an era of fast bowlers and flashing blades, his performance stands as a reminder of the quiet power of flight, spin and patience. Old Trafford 1956 is still the standard against which all great bowling is measured.