Cricket's unbreakable record

By Andrew Hignell

It’s a record that can never be broken, and only one bowler has ever come close to equalling it. I refer, of course, to the remarkable feat of the late Brian Langford - who died this week in Taunton at the age of 77 - of returning bowling figures of 8-8-0-0 during the inaugural year of the John Player Sunday League.

The off-spinner achieved his barely believable analysis in Somerset’s match against Essex at Yeovil on July 27, 1969. Langford had previously returned figures of 8-3-10-3 in the opening game in the competition, against Leicestershire at Weston-super-Mare on the last Sunday in April, as the visitors successfully chased a modest target of 93.

Then, on May 10 in the Gillette Cup game against Derbyshire at Taunton, Langford ended with figures of 12-7-15-0, again in a losing cause as the visitors reached their target of 145 in the 60th and final over.

Langford’s record-breaking moment, however, came at Johnson Park in Yeovil as Somerset's captain duly delivered his eight overs - the maximum allowed for an individual bowler in the 40-over competition - without conceding a single run. This time his frugal efforts were instrumental in seeing his side to a two-wicket victory.

The only player in the Sunday League - indeed, in any limited-overs cricket - who has so far come closest to equalling Langford’s feat is Dilip Doshi, the Indian left-arm spinner, who in 1977 returned figures of 8-7-1-1 for Nottinghamshire in a game against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

Some bowlers, though, have delivered more than eight maidens in domestic one-day games in the UK where, under the various competition regulations, bowlers have been permitted to deliver up to ten, eleven, twelve or even thirteen overs (in the inaugural Gillette Cup in 1963) in their allocation.

These include Jack Simmons who had figures of 12-9-3-1 for Lancashire in a NatWest Trophy game against Suffolk at Bury St Edmunds in 1985, Yorkshireman Chris Old who returned figures of 11-9-3-1 against Middlesex at Lord’s in a Benson and Hedges Cup match in 1979, Don Wilson with figures of 12-9-4-1 for Yorkshire against Norfolk in a Gillette Cup game at Lakenham in 1969, and John Childs who ended with an analysis of 11-9-4-1 for Gloucestershire against Nottinghamshire in the Benson and Hedges Cup at Gloucester in 1981.

*Andrew Hignell is Glamorgan Cricket's official scorer and statistician




Date: 14/02/2013 07:00:00 by Andrew Hignell
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