Jim Laker 19 for 90 — The Greatest Bowling Match in Cricket, 1956

Laker had been an England fixture since 1948 but had been kept out of the first part of the 1950s by competition from Lock and Roy Jenkins. By 1956 he was in his 30s and at the absolute peak of his off-spin powers. Surrey had already shown what he could do against the touring Australians earlier in the summer.

England had won at Headingley in the previous Test, with Laker taking 11. Australia had lost faith in their spin options and were vulnerable to high-quality off-spin on damp pitches.

The 1956 Ashes was Laker's series. Off-spinner for Surrey and England, he had already taken all ten Australian wickets for Surrey at The Oval in May for 88 runs. The Old Trafford pitch — christened 'Beach' for its sandy top — was prepared with a pronounced bias toward spin, a fact that drew angry complaint from Australian captain Ian Johnson and tour manager Bill Dowling but did not stop Laker from achieving immortality.

England made 459 with David Sheppard 113 and Peter Richardson 104. Laker then took 9 for 37 as Australia were dismissed for 84. Australia followed on. Tony Lock, bowling 69 overs to Laker's 51.2, took the only wicket Laker did not — Colin McDonald's, caught for 89 by Alan Oakman at short leg. Laker bowled at one end almost unchanged through the second innings, taking 10 for 53.

The Australians' complaints about the pitch were vehement and ongoing. They argued the surface had been prepared deliberately to favour England's spinners. Manchester rain stopped play for parts of three days; Laker bowled in conditions ranging from drying to damp. Either way, the figures stood. The post-match scenes saw Laker walking off alone from the Stretford End, scoreboard frozen at 19 for 90.

“I think we have just witnessed something we shall never see again.”

“I just kept bowling. The ball did the rest.”

England won the series 2-1 to retain the Ashes. Laker took 46 wickets in the series at 9.60 — a five-Test Ashes record. He is the first and to date only bowler to take 19 wickets in a first-class match.

Laker fell out with the Surrey committee in 1959 over an unauthorised autobiography ('Over to Me') critical of administrators, and was effectively forced out of the first-class game. He returned briefly with Essex in the 1960s and then commentated. He died in 1986.