Jim Laker's record - 19 wickets in a Test, unlikely to be broken

by A. C. de Silva

CRICKET: One of England's greatest spin bowlers of all times - Jim Laker is not amongst cricketers. He died 21 years ago at the age of 64 years, on April 23rd in 1986 but his splendid bowling feats for England will be remembered as long as the game will be played.

Laker became a National hero in 1956 for his World Record haul of 19 wickets in a single Test which helped England to retain the Ashes in their clashes with Australia.

Talking of Jim Laker, some of the die-hard cricket followers of the game here, had the opportunity of seeing the great England off-spinner for a few moments when he played for the England team at their 'whistle-stop' one-day match against Sri Lanka at the SSC grounds on April 21 in 1958.

The match was washed out by rain and Laker bowled a few overs from the scoreboard-end (Radio Ceylon end).

Laker teased some of the top order Sri Lankan batsmen with his wily spin, but, there was one Sri Lankan batsman - diminutive left-hander Anton Sethupathy.

Sethupathy's batting that day answered all the critics who were out to crucify him with masterly technique on a rain affected wicket. He had around 3 fours off Laker.

It was fascinating to observe him while the cream of Lanka's batting was mowed down by England's champion off-spinner Laker.

Peter May - the England captain at that time described Laker as "one of the greatest off-spinners of the time."

Laker will go down in history for his performances in the 1956 Old Trafford Test - his figures of 9 for 37 and 10 for 53 gave England victory by an innings and 170 runs. May added: "It was an honour to play with him throughout the 1950s."

Laker played for Surrey from 1946 to 1959 and for Essex between 1962 and 1964. Laker's England career spanned 12 years, ending in 1959. He later became a commentator with BBC Television.

The year 1956 turned out to be a good year for the Englishmen on the cricket field, especially against their arch rivals - Australia. The way some Englishmen pronounced the word "Laker" - one can hardly tell it from Lacquer. So much so, that a new verb appeared in big headlines in the London press as Jim Laker put it all over the Australians.

Bowling feats

"Australians Lakered". Headlines proclaimed gleefully after 6-ft off-spin bowler took all ten wickets in Australia's first match at the Kensington Oval, South London. Not since the first tour around 100 years or so before had a English bowler capturing every Australian wicket.

The headlines grew bigger and bigger as Laker spun out Australia's batting, sealed the doom of their hopes of regaining the Test Ashes and added a finishing coat to England's cricket supremacy.

Until Laker proved it could be done, cricketers would have laid long odds against any bowler bringing off any one of these feats:

* 10 wickets in a Test innings (previous record - nine by Australia's Arthur Mailey against England, Melbourne 1921).

* 19 out of 20 wickets in a Test (previous record in Anglo - Australian Tests - 15 each by Yorkshiremen Wilfred Rhodes 15 for 124 and Hedley Verity, previous all-countries record - 17 by England's S. F. Barnes against South Africa, Johannesburg 1913-14. Australians in England - Bob Mossie at Lord's in 1972 (match figures of 16 for 137).

* 46 wickets in a "rubber" of five Tests, to beat 39 by England's Alec Bedser against Australia 1953; 44 by Australia's C. H. Grimmett in South Africa 1935-36, and all except S. Barnes' 49 for England in South Africa in 1913-14.

* 10 Australian wickets in an innings twice in one season. To calculate the odds against one man carrying off all these records in four months one would have to think of a number like the mileage to the moon, double it - and not take away the number, one first thought of Jim Laker.

Laker imparts more spin to the ball than any other English off-break bowler with a direct flight though not so much as Lisle Nagel did to turn off-breaks on Australia's harder wickets at considerably greater pace in the 1930s.

Open's speed

I think Laker gets more turn than Hugh Tayfield, the accurate South African off-spinner who raced him to 100 Test wickets.

They are similar in pace, much quicker from hand to pitch than Johnson but not so quick as Lancashire's Roy Tattersall, and marked slower than Glamorgan's Don Sheppherd (first to take 150 wickets in 1956) and Yorkshire's Bob Appleyard. The last two are medium-pace bowlers.

Waiting at the bowler's end, the striker's partner uneasily hears the ball whir through the air as Laker flicks it along. Pressure of the inside tip of his forefinger against the ball causes a callus which constant bowling makes sore.

By soaking the finger in friars balsam, then sandpapering the edges of the callus smooth. Laker prevents this wear from becoming wear-and-tear; he leaves nothing that the ball's seam could catch and rip the flesh.

When asked by a scribe whether his finger hurt as he took 19 Australian wickets in the fourth Test, Laker said. "No. It hasn't troubled me as much as usual because I've been given a match off before each Test."

All Laker's successes against Australia were gained with the wind, though in each match his captains used him from each end. Though flight is not a marked feature of his tactics, he would rather bowl into the breeze if it is light.

He prefers a breeze from fine-leg because it helps to make the ball drift out before turning back. Bowling against a strong wind does not suit him.

All Laker wants in a wicket is a surface, damp or dry, that will enable him to turn the ball a few inches.

Opponents tell of rivalry between him and Lock for the most helpful end, but in the Tests, skipper Peter May always gave the left-hander a number of overs from the end where Laker triumphed.

That finger

When an ardent cricket fan shook the hand that shook the Australian batting to its foundations, it was noticed that its size more than in past handshakes.

It is almost certain that Laker's big hand is any larger than when it was seen many years ago, but his right forefinger certainly is after more than a dozen years of pressure on the ball, to spin it clockwise for off-breaks, have developed this finger's muscle sinew until it is half an inch longer than his left forefinger and almost as thick proportionately.

The hand belonged to a six-footer of about 14-stone, with face as round and beam as broad as the vowels and dialect of his birth place in Yorkshire - the mill city that turns Australians woos into worsted. Laker used to limber to the bowling crease with seven solid strides. No fuss or frills.

The pressure he applies to a batsman's temperament and technique has the silent significance of the pressure of a policeman's fingers on the coat sleeve of a prisoner in the dock.

He never lets the batsman to get the power that holds him captive at the crease, quick-footed batsmen to the slips after off-breaks of Australia's Ian Johnson and Gloucestershire's A. Wells.

The pace which Laker used to push the ball through the air allows batsmen little scope for moving forward from the crease to drive.

Jim Laker was tall and he towered over his dark-haired Viennese wife Lilly, whom he met while he was a British Army sergeant in Egypt in World War II. Lilly Servicewoman in the A.T.S. She spoke with a slight Austrian accent. Jim and Lilly had two daughters - Fiona and Angela.

James Charles Laker's fondness for cricket goes back to his schooldays when he used to forego holidays at the seaside so that he could play the game.

Poor debut

At 26, he was chosen to play in 3 Tests against Sir Donald Bradman's Australians in England, but as his nine (9) wickets cost 52 runs a piece, he was dropped twice - from the Manchester Test and the final Test at the Oval.

His omission then was probably hastened by Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall and Ian Johnson clouting 9 sixes off his bowling in less than one hour in the Australians' match against MCC at Lord's ground. Miller and Sam Loxten hit more sixes in the Leeds Test.

Laker played in all 4 Tests against the 1952 Indians in England.

However, he was not brought into the English team in 1953 against the Australians until the 3rd Test.

With his two games for Surrey at the Oval, his total of Australian wickets in five matches in 1953 was 10 for 322. Laker's 1000th wicket in first class cricket fell to him on tour in the West Indies in 1964.

England 1st Innings 

P. E. Richardson c Maddocks b Benaud	104
M. C. Cowdrey c Maddocks b Lindwall	 80
D. S. Sheppard b Archer 		113
P. B. H. May c Archer b Benaud	 	 43
T. E. Bailey b Johnson 	 		 20
C. Washbrook lbw b Johnson 	  	  6
A. S. M. Oakman c Archer b Johnson	 10
T. G. Evans St. Maddocks b Johnson	 47
J. C. Laker run out	  		  3	
G. A. R. Lock not out	 		 25
J. B. Statham c Maddocks b Lindwall	  0
Extras (B 2, LB 5, W 1) 	  	  8
Total					459

Fall of wickets: 1-174, 2-195, 3-288, 4-321, 
		 5-327, 6-339, 7-401, 8-417, 9-458

Bowling: Ray Lindwall 21.3-6-63-2, Keith Miller 21-6-41-0, 
	 Ron Archer 22-6-73-1, 
	 R. Johnson 47-10-151-4, 
	 Richie Benaud 47-17-123-2.

Australia 1st Innings 

C. C. Mcdonald c Lock b Laker	 	32
J. W. Burke c Cowdrey b Lock	 	22
R. N. Harvey b Laker	  	  	 0
I. D. Craig lbw b Laker	  	  	 8
Keith Miller c Oakman b Laker 	  	 6
Ken Mackay c Oakman b Laker	  	 0
Ron Archer St. Evans b Laker	  	 6
Richie Benaud c Statham b Laker	  	 0
Ray Lindwall not out	  	  	 6
Len Maddocks b Laker 	  	  	 4
W. Johnson b Laker 	  	  	 0
Extras	  			  	 0
Total	 			 	84

Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-48, 3-62, 4-62, 
		 5-62, 6-73, 7-73, 8-78, 9-84

Bowling: J. B. Statham 6-3-6-0, 
	 Trevor Bailey 4-3-4-0, 
	 Jim Laker 16.4-4-37-9, 
	 Tony Lock 14-3-37-1.

Australia 2nd Innings 

C. C. Mcdonald c Oakman b Laker	 	89
J. W. Burke c Lock b Laker	 	33
Neil Harvey c Cowdrey b Laker	  	 0
Ian Craig lbw b Laker	 	 	38
Ken Mackay c Oakman b Laker 	  	 0
Keith Miller b Laker	  	  	 0
Ron Archer c Oakman b Laker	  	 0
Richie Benaud b Laker	 	 	18
Ray Lindwall c Lock b Laker	  	 8
W. Johnson not out	  	  	 1
Len Maddocks lbw b Laker 	 	 2
Extras (B 12, LB 4)	 	 	16
Total			 		205

Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-55, 3-114, 4-124, 
		 5-130, 6-130, 7-181, 8-198, 9-203
Bowling: J. B. Statham 16-10-15-0, 
	 Trevor Bailey 20-8-31-0, 
	 Jim Laker 51.2-23-53-10, 
	 Tony Lock 55-30-69-0, 
	 A. Oakman 8-3-21-0.