Hugh Tayfield 9 for 113 — South Africa Beat England at the Wanderers, 1957

Tayfield had played 19 Tests by Johannesburg 1957 and had already taken 30 wickets in the 1952-53 series in Australia and 26 in England in 1955. He bowled with a high arm, used drift and arc, and was notorious for his deliberate, measured run-up — he tapped his cap before every delivery, a habit that earned him the nickname 'Toey'.

England had won at Cape Town and lost at Durban. The series was alive at the Wanderers. The pitch had been used for the third Test as well and was already wearing.

England, captained by Peter May, had reached the fourth Test 2-1 up under sustained pressure. Roy McLean's 93 helped South Africa to 340. Tayfield's first-innings 4 for 79 helped restrict England to 251. Russell Endean's 70 took South Africa to 142 in the second innings, leaving England a target of 232 — modest in theory but exposed on a wearing surface.

England began the chase at 14 for 0. Tayfield took 9 for 113 in 37 unchanged overs of off-spin, drift and dip. He bowled May, Cowdrey, Bailey and Insole. He had Compton stumped. Wisden scored him as bowling without a single bad ball. England were 214 all out, 17 short. Tayfield was carried from the field by team-mates.

Tayfield's match figures were 13 for 192 from 71 overs. The series finished 2-2; South Africa had been on the brink of a series win and Tayfield's solo effort was the difference.

“He bowled the most accurate spell of off-spin I have ever seen.”

“Toey just kept going. We could not get him off.”

South Africa drew the fifth Test and the series ended 2-2 — a tremendous result for Jackie McGlew's side. Tayfield finished the series with 37 wickets at 17.18, then a series record for South Africa.

He retired in 1960 with 170 Test wickets at 25.91, a then South African record. He died in poverty in 1994. The Wanderers spell remained unmatched among South African Test bowlers until apartheid-era exile.