Jim Laker - wikipedia Jim Laker Jim Laker Jim Laker leaves the field after taking 19 for 90 at Old Trafford in 1956. Full name James Charles Laker ( 1922 - 02 - 09 ) 9 February 1922 Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England 23 April 1986 ( 1986 - 04 - 23 ) ( aged 64 ) Putney, London, England Batting Right - handed Bowling Right arm off break International information National side England Test debut ( cap 328 ) 21 January 1948 v West Indies Last Test 18 February 1959 v Australia Domestic team information Years Team 1962 -- 1964 Essex 1946 -- 1959 Surrey 1951 -- 1952 Auckland Career statistics Competition Test First - class Matches 46 450 Runs scored 676 7,304 Batting average 14.08 16.60 100s / 50s 0 / 2 2 / 18 Top score 63 113 Balls bowled 12,027 101,370 Wickets 193 1,944 Bowling average 21.24 18.41 5 wickets in innings 9 127 10 wickets in match 32 Best bowling 10 / 53 10 / 53 Catches / stumpings 12 / -- 270 / -- Source : CricketArchive, 7 January 2009 James Charles Laker ( 9 February 1922 -- 23 April 1986 ) was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for `` Laker 's match '' in 1956 at Old Trafford, Manchester, when he took nineteen wickets in England 's victory against Australia. He played 46 Test matches between 1948 and 1959, taking 193 wickets with a bowling average of 21.24 ; in all first - class matches he took 1,944 wickets at 18.41. Born in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, he was known as an elegant off - spin bowler. He consistently performed well against Australian cricket teams, and formed a successful partnership with Tony Lock, a left - arm orthodox spinner. He was also part of the Surrey side that dominated the county championship with seven consecutive titles from 1952 to 1958. He was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1952. Contents 1 Family and early career 2 International career 2.1 Laker 's match 3 Post retirement 4 References 5 External links Family and early career Laker was brought up by his aunts in Saltaire. Before the outbreak of World War II, he was called down to the Yorkshire County Cricket Club nets, where his performance was good enough to be offered a place as a batsman. War brought a break to his cricketing career, but reports began to emerge in about 1943 of an off - spinner in North Africa of whom people said, `` You can hear the ball buzz as he lets it go. '' After the war, Laker settled on the outskirts of London, and was recommended to Surrey. After Yorkshire granted permission, he was registered at the Oval, meaning he never played for his native county. International career Laker bowled well at county level in 1947, and was successful against the West Indies in 1947 / 48, taking 7 wickets for 103 runs in the first innings of the 1st Test, making the 28th Englishman to take 5 wickets on Test debut. However, he was severely punished by Don Bradman 's 1948 Australians. On England 's disastrous tour of Australia in 1958 -- 59, Laker was one of the few England players to enhance his reputation, bowling well on unhelpful pitches. Apart from his figures in ' Laker 's match ', the other bowling performance for which he is remembered is his 8 wickets for 2 runs in an innings in a Test Trial at Bradford in 1950, playing for England against ' The Rest '. Laker 's match Laker was the first player to take all 10 wickets in a Test match innings, ten for 53 in the Australians ' 2nd innings of the 4th Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1956 ( the only other bowler to take all 10 wickets is Anil Kumble of India in 1999 ). Having also taken 9 for 37 in the first innings, Laker 's match bowling figures were 19 for 90 : no other bowler has taken more than seventeen wickets in a first - class match. Laker was married to an Austrian who did not know much about cricket. On the day of his achievement when he arrived home, his wife asked him, `` Jim, did you do something good today ? '' after she had taken hundreds of congratulatory telephone calls. Remarkably, Laker had also taken all 10 wickets in an innings for Surrey against the same Australians earlier in the season, the first time a bowler had taken all ten against the Australians since Ted Barratt did so in 1878. Laker 's effort was part of a record - breaking performance during the 1956 Ashes series : Laker 's 46 wickets established a record for a 5 - Test Ashes series which remains unbroken. It led to him being awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in 1956, the first cricketer to win the award. Laker in the 1956 Ashes series No. Venue 1st Inns O -- M -- R -- W 2nd Inns O -- M -- R -- W Aggregate Match Result Wkts Runs Trent Bridge 29.1 -- 11 -- 58 -- 4 30.0 -- 19 -- 29 -- 2 6 87 Match drawn Lord 's 29.1 -- 10 -- 47 -- 3 7 -- 3 -- 17 -- 0 64 Australia won by 185 runs Headingley 29 -- 10 -- 58 -- 5 41.3 -- 21 -- 55 -- 6 11 113 England won by inns & 42 runs Old Trafford 16.4 -- 4 -- 37 -- 9 51.2 -- 23 -- 53 -- 10 19 90 England won by inns & 170 runs 5 The Oval 32 -- 12 -- 80 -- 4 18 -- 14 -- 8 -- 3 7 87 Match drawn Total 46 441 ave. 9.60, 4 5 - wkt innings, 2 10 - wkt matches Post retirement Laker retired in 1959. The publication, in 1960, of his ghost - written autobiography, containing severe criticism of his Surrey and England captain Peter May, resulted in his losing honorary memberships of MCC and Surrey. These were both eventually restored. In 1962, Laker was `` persuaded '' out of retirement by his old team - mate Trevor Bailey and played a number of matches, as an amateur, for Essex until 1965. In later years Laker was a highly regarded cricket commentator for both ITV during the 1960s and later BBC television during the 1970s and 1980s. His habit of dropping the final `` g '' when pronouncing words ending in `` ing '' attracted much affectionate mimicry. `` Wry, dry, laconic, he thought about cricket with a deep intensity and a splendidly ironic point of view '', wrote John Arlott. Laker died in Putney, London, and was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium. His ashes were scattered at the Oval cricket ground. A residential street in the Fernhill area of Shipley is named Jim Laker Place, after him. On 23 August 2009, Laker, along with Jack Hobbs and Len Hutton, was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. References Jump up ^ `` 1st Test : West Indies v England at Bridgetown, Jan 21 -- 26, 1948 ''. espncricinfo. Retrieved 13 December 2011. Jump up ^ 18 wickets in a match was achieved by William Lillywhite for eleven Players against sixteen Gentlemen at Lord 's in 1837, and by Henry Arkwright for MCC against Kent in a 12 - a-side match at Canterbury in 1861, but seventeen is the most otherwise recorded in an eleven - a-side match. The previous best bowling in a Test match was achieved by Sydney Barnes, who took 17 wickets for England against South Africa in December 1913. Jump up ^ Steen, Rob ( 30 July 2006 ). `` Heroes & villains ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 23 September 2010. Jump up ^ David Lemmon, The History of Surrey County Cricket Club, Christopher Helm, 1989, ISBN 0 - 7470 - 2010 - 8, p245 Jump up ^ `` Cricinfo statsguru ''. Stats.espncricinfo.com. Retrieved 8 August 2014. Jump up ^ Arlott, John ( 24 April 2008 ). `` From the Vault : Arlott on Laker ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2010. Jump up ^ `` Hutton, Hobbs and Laker inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame ''. TheSportsCampus.com. 23 August 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2014. External links Cricinfo Player Profile -- Jim Laker Best Test match bowling figures, from Cricinfo Best Test innings bowling figures, from Cricinfo Most wickets in a first - class match, from CricketArchive Sporting positions Preceded by Gordon Pirie BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1956 Succeeded by Dai Rees BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award 1954 Christopher Chataway 1955 Gordon Pirie 1956 Jim Laker 1957 Dai Rees 1958 Ian Black 1959 John Surtees 1960 David Broome 1961 Stirling Moss 1962 Anita Lonsbrough 1963 Dorothy Hyman 1964 Mary Rand 1965 Tom Simpson 1966 Bobby Moore 1967 Henry Cooper 1968 David Hemery 1969 Ann Jones 1970 Henry Cooper 1971 HRH The Princess Anne 1972 Mary Peters 1973 Jackie Stewart 1974 Brendan Foster 1975 David Steele 1976 John Curry 1977 Virginia Wade 1978 Steve Ovett 1979 Sebastian Coe 1980 Robin Cousins 1981 Ian Botham 1982 Daley Thompson 1983 Steve Cram 1984 Torvill and Dean ( Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean ) 1985 Barry McGuigan 1986 Nigel Mansell 1987 Fatima Whitbread 1988 Steve Davis 1989 Nick Faldo 1990 Paul Gascoigne 1991 Liz McColgan 1992 Nigel Mansell 1993 Linford Christie 1994 Damon Hill 1995 Jonathan Edwards 1996 Damon Hill 1997 Greg Rusedski 1998 Michael Owen 1999 Lennox Lewis 2000 Steve Redgrave 2001 David Beckham 2002 Paula Radcliffe 2003 Jonny Wilkinson 2004 Kelly Holmes 2005 Andrew Flintoff 2006 Zara Phillips 2007 Joe Calzaghe 2008 Chris Hoy 2009 Ryan Giggs 2010 Tony McCoy 2011 Mark Cavendish 2012 Bradley Wiggins 2013 Andy Murray 2014 Lewis Hamilton 2015 Andy Murray 2016 Andy Murray 2017 Mo Farah ICC Cricket Hall of Fame Players Men Barnes Bedi Bedser Benaud Border Botham Boycott Bradman G. Chappell I. Chappell Compton Cowdrey Dev Gavaskar Gibbs Gooch Gower Grace Graveney Greenidge Hadlee Hammond Harvey Headley Hobbs Hutton Kanhai Khan Knott Laker Larwood Lillee Lindwall Lloyd Marsh Marshall May Miandad Miller Mohammad O'Reilly Pollock Rhodes B. Richards V. Richards Roberts Sobers Statham Trueman Underwood Walcott Weekes Woolley Worrell Grimmett Sutcliffe Trumper Akram Waugh Barrington Garner Walsh Ambrose Davidson Spofforth Lara McGrath Gilchrist Warne Younis Simpson Crowe Hall Kumble Lohmann Morris Muralitharan Women Heyhoe - Flint Bakewell Clark Wilson Hockley Rolton VIAF : 8185664 LCCN : n77004666 GND : 118886428 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jim_Laker&oldid=820002721 '' Categories : 1922 births 1986 deaths Auckland cricketers BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners Burials at Putney Vale Cemetery Commonwealth XI cricketers Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Cricketers who have taken ten wickets in an innings England Test cricketers English cricket commentators English cricketers English cricketers of 1946 to 1968 Essex cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers International Cricket Council Hall of Fame inductees Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers People from Bradford Players cricketers Surrey cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Sportspeople from Yorkshire Hidden categories : Use British English from February 2013 Use dmy dates from February 2015 Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia বাংলা हिन्दी मराठी தமிழ் Edit links This page was last edited on 12 January 2018, at 14 : 34. 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Question: who took 19 wickets in a test match
Answer: James Charles Laker