Colin Blythe — 15 for 99 at Headingley v South Africa, 1907

Blythe had played 19 Tests by 1907 and would play a further 14, finishing with 100 wickets at 18.63. The decision to pick him ahead of Wilfred Rhodes was controversial — Rhodes had been first-choice slow left-armer since 1899 — but the selectors valued Blythe's flight on damp pitches.

Blythe was epileptic, and his health limited him to careful playing schedules. He played for Kent from 1899 to 1914 and was killed in the war in 1917.

South Africa had drawn the first Test at Lord's; the series was 0-0 going into Headingley. The Yorkshire pitch, soaked overnight, suited spinners. Both Blythe and Faulkner exploited it.

Colin Blythe, the slender Kent slow left-armer with a weak heart and (it would later emerge) epilepsy, was at the height of his powers in the summer of 1907. He had been Kent's leading wicket-taker for five seasons and had been picked over Wilfred Rhodes for the South Africa series — a controversial choice that the selectors justified by Blythe's superior flight on damp wickets.

The second Test at Headingley began on 29 July 1907. South Africa, batting first, were rolled for 110 (Blythe 8 for 59 in 15.5 overs); the Australian-born Aubrey Faulkner took 6 for 17 in reply (England 76 all out). South Africa's second innings of 75 was equally torrid — Blythe taking 7 for 40 in 22.4 overs. England chased 139 in the fourth innings, losing wickets steadily to Faulkner but reaching the target with three to spare.

Blythe's match figures of 15 for 99 made him the first Englishman to take 15 wickets in a Test against any opposition other than Australia. He took 26 wickets in the three-Test series at 10 each. England won 1-0; Blythe was the dominant bowler.

“He could land five balls out of six on a football placed on a length.”

England won the series 1-0; Blythe took 26 wickets at 10 each across three Tests. He played eight more Tests, ending with 100 wickets at 18.63. He continued for Kent until 1914, taking 215 wickets in 1909 alone.

Blythe enlisted in the Kent Fortress Engineers at the start of the war despite his epilepsy and ill-health. He was transferred to the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and was killed at Ypres on 8 November 1917, aged 38.