Published: May 31, 2013, 03:57 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 14, 2016, 12:46 AM (IST)
On May 31, 1950 Jim Laker returned a haul of 14-12-2-8 to bowl out Rest of England at Bradford. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back an amazing spell by the Surrey off-spinner that helped him find a spot in the Test squad.
Till about 40 years back, there used to be a traditional Test Trial match, which was supposed to help the selectors to determine the squad for the Tests. The problem with the match was the fact that more often than not the teams were selected based on the domestic season, thereby making the match redundant — and often played more out of tradition. The match, generally played between ‘England‘ and Rest of England (the Second XI, basically), often turned out to be a one-sided affair as well.
Jim Laker, born at Bradford, Yorkshire, did go on to play for Surrey (and Essex). Though Laker had played only a single Test till then (against New Zealand at The Oval, taking 4 for 89 the previous season), he was selected for the First XI alongside some big names like Len Hutton, Reg Simpson, Bill Edrich, Norman Yardley, Trevor Bailey, Godfrey Evans, Alec Bedser, and Eric Hollies. What was more, it was to be played at Bradford, his hometown.
The spell
Yardley won the toss and put Rest of England in on a damp pitch with the Sun peeking through the clouds, and a strong wind blowing laterally. Bailey and Alec Bedser, finding the pitch to their liking, swung the ball around at will, and Bailey soon trapped David Sheppard leg-before for 4. Hubert Doggart, Rest of England captain, walked out to bat.
Don Kenyon and Doggart hung around rather resiliently, often struggling against the two seamers. They reached 10 in 12 overs, when Yardley thought of providing Bailey with some rest, and took him off after a spell of 6-4-3-1. Despite the conducive conditions, he surprised everyone by not bringing himself on to bowl his medium-pace, and went for Laker instead.
Laker bowled faster than his usual pace, found the perfect length from his first ball, and also obtained lethal turn and bounce: “I was able to drop the ball on a length from the very first, and I could see the ball turn and lift immediately.” His off-breaks turned at incredible angles, and he had Doggart (for 2), Peter May (for a duck), and in his second over, Donald Carr (for a duck) — all caught at short-leg, by Bailey, Hutton, and Bailey respectively.
This brought Eric Bedser to the crease. Laker had apparently had an agreement with Eric Bedser that he would allow his Surrey teammate to score a single, and hence he pushed Alec Bedser back to mid-on. The single was taken — which amounted to 50 per cent of the runs conceded by Laker in the innings.
Kenyon, meanwhile, was batting quite sensibly, mostly with soft hands, and often playing off the back-foot and letting the ball drop. Evans should probably get the credit for the wicket. As Laker recollected: “Evans had been watching Kenyon’s method closely. With a superb piece of anticipation he moved like lightning, and the batsman stared in disbelief as the ball dropped cosily into that big red glove waiting by the batsman’s feet.” Kenyon’s 7 would remain the top score of the innings.
Eric Bedser could not add to the ‘gifted’ single, and was trapped leg-before by Laker, who followed the wicket by clean bowling Dick Spooner and Bob Berry, reaching figures of 7 for 1, and Rest of England were 20 for 8.
Fred Trueman, all of 19, walked out to bat, and had an inside edge. Bailey and Laker both ran towards the ball and Trueman managed to scamper for a single. However, he was stumped brilliantly by Evans, who was standing up to the stumps against Alec Bedser, and the score reached 21 for 9.
Hollies was soon brought on to replace Bedser, who returned figures of 9-3-12-1. The bowlers held up the scoring rate, but Roly Jenkins and Les Jackson refused to budge. Jackson hit one hard back, but Laker managed to stop it. And then, when Jackson tried an encore, Laker took a catch off his own bowling, and Rest of England were bowled out for 27 in 36 overs. Hollies bowled economically with 7-5-5-0, and Laker finished with incredible figures of 14-12-2-8.
Though it was an incredible effort, Laker himself was not jubilant about it: “It was destined to go down as one of the most remarkable matches ever recorded. As a Test trial it was a complete waste of time. Eight of those selected were mostly forgotten forever.” He added: “There was nothing really special about it; it was just one of those days.”
There were mixed reactions from the press. Bruce Harris wrote for the Evening Standard: “The ball, twisting and hopping all over the place, needed a fly-swatter rather than a bat to control it”. On the other hand, The Cricketer commented that it was basically “a First-Class county side in conflict with a scratch Saturday afternoon XI”.
The rest of the match
The result was quite obvious after the debacle in the first session. England’s first wicket fell at 59 — more than twice the score of the Rest, and the second at 155 for 1. Hutton scored 85 in two hours; Edrich (46) and John Dewes (34) also crossed the score of the Rest of India themselves. Berry took 5 for 73 while Jenkins 3 for 38 as England scored 229, and still had time take two Rest of England wickets for 27 by stumps.
Day Two was another one-sided affair as Hollies ran through Rest of England with 6 for 28. He was supported by Alec Bedser (2 for 22) and Laker (2 for 44), and Rest of England collapsed to 113 and lost by an innings and 89 runs.
What followed
– The selectors, headed by Bob Wyatt, selected Laker for the Old Trafford Test against West Indies that started a week later. Laker took 1 for 86, and was forgotten for a year.
– He came back strongly the next year, and picked up 10 for 119 against South Africa at The Oval.
– Come 1956, and Laker routed Australia with figures of 10 for 88 in the first innings of their tour match against Surrey.
– He added to the woes of the Australians by picking up 11 for 113 in the Test at Headingley.
– He picked up 19 for 90 in the next Test at Old Trafford — a world record that still stands even at First-Class level.
Brief scores:
Rest of England 27 (Jim Laker 8 for 2) and 113 (Eric Hollies 6 for 28) lost to England 229 (Len Hutton 85, Bill Edrich 46; Bob Berry 5 for 73) by an innings and 89 runs.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is a cricket historian and Senior Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He generally looks upon life as a journey involving two components – cricket and literature – though not as disjoint elements. A passionate follower of the history of the sport with an insatiable appetite for trivia and anecdotes, he has also a steady love affair with the incredible assortment of numbers that cricket has to offer. He also thinks he can bowl decent leg-breaks in street cricket, and blogs at http://ovshake.blogspot.in. He can be followed on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/
