FROM THE ARCHIVE: "Laker's Match"

In the summer of 1956, Jim Laker claimed a record 19 wickets at Old Trafford to help England beat Australia by an innings and 170 runs… to this day, no one has taken as many wickets in a Test match

In the fourth Test of the 1956 Ashes at Old Trafford, Jim Laker made history by picking up 19 wickets to help England beat Australia by an innings and 170 runs. 

To this day, it remains the best match figures ever recorded in Test cricket, with Muttiah Muralitharan's 16 wickets at The Oval in 1998 the closest anyone has got in the last 30 years. 

His 10 for 53 in the second innings also remains the best figures in an innings, with Anil Kumble being the only other man to take all 10 in one go (Kumble's figures against Pakistan were 10 for 74).

England went on to win the series 2-1, with Laker finishing on 46 wickets at 9.6. No one has ever claimed more wickets in a single Ashes series. 

In the 1956 Annual, W.E. Bowes summarised his astonishing performances throughout the summer.  

^{Jim Laker bowling for Surrey at The Oval in 1949}

For the first time since the turn of the century, England have won three Test series in a row against Australia. The 1956 Australian team, chosen to master the menace of Frank Tyson and Brian Statham, failed deplorably against the off-spin of Jim Laker…

It was that we had an Australia side with fundamental weakness against off-spin, and most unfortunately for the tourists they hit a wet season in England, or at both Leeds and Manchester found pitches which, when dry, enabled Laker to turn the ball. 

True, the ball did not turn much, but Australian batsmen were so over-positioned that the slightest deviation had them in a tangle…

Generally speaking, the wrist-spin bowler has to bowl the ball with a pronounced upwards trajectory from the hand. The Australian method of playing them is to go down the wicket.

Laker, as a finger-spin bowler, could foil that method by bowling quicker and with a lower trajectory. A consummate artist, too, with every trick of the trade at his command, he wreaked havoc. It was Laker who dominated the Test series…

At Manchester, in what will be forever known as "Laker's Match," the off-spin bowler claimed 19 wickets for only 90 runs. The wicket of Jim Burke, by far the best Australia batsman throughout the tour, was the only one Laker did not take twice and England won by an innings and 170 runs…

So far as England is concerned – and I have said enough about Laker – the other bowlers were ordinary…

Peter May’s captaincy was good, too, but whether to compliment him, or Laker, for the morale and teamwork is open to question. Laker was not good, not very good, but excellent.