George Lohmann's 9 for 28 — South Africa Bowled Out at Old Wanderers, 1896

South African Test cricket had begun only in 1888-89; the 1895-96 series was its third. England under Lord Hawke toured with a strong but not full-strength side. Lohmann, who had been forced out of county cricket by tuberculosis, had taken the South African winter as part of a recuperation programme.

England 482; South Africa replying on a fast pitch with patchy bounce. Lohmann came on as first-change after Briggs and Hearne; the wickets fell almost from the moment he entered the attack.

England, captained by Lord Hawke and powered by Lohmann's lifetime form, had crushed South Africa in the First Test at Port Elizabeth — Lohmann 7/38 and 8/7 with a hat-trick, dismissing the home side for 30. The Second Test moved to the rough Old Wanderers ground in Johannesburg, then a corrugated-iron-fenced patch of veld on the northern edge of the gold-rush city.

England batted first and made 482; Tom Hayward 122. South Africa replied: Lohmann came on first change and bowled medium-fast off-cutters that pitched on a length and rose unevenly. Frank Hearne and Jimmy Sinclair offered the only resistance. Lohmann took 9 for 28 from 14.2 overs (four-ball overs of the era, so 57 deliveries), with one wicket falling to a run-out. South Africa were 197 all out and were forced to follow on. Lohmann took 3 for 43 in the second innings; England won by an innings and 197 runs.

Lohmann's series figures across the three Tests — Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Cape Town — were 35 wickets at 5.80. No bowler has ever taken more wickets in a three-Test series. His career Test bowling average of 10.75 across 18 Tests remains the lowest of any bowler with 100-plus Test wickets.

“Lohmann's average for the South African Tests of 1895-96 — 5.80 — is the most extraordinary figure in the records of Test cricket.”

Lohmann took six more Test wickets in the Cape Town finale, finishing the tour with 35 series wickets. His tuberculosis worsened on his return to England; he played little county cricket after 1898 and died in Matjiesfontein, South Africa, in December 1901 aged 36. The 9/28 stood as the Test record until Jim Laker's 10/53 in 1956.