Jim Laker took 19 wickets for 90 runs in a single Test match — 9/37 in the first innings and 10/53 in the second — a bowling performance so dominant it remains the most extraordinary individual bowling feat in the history of the game.
9 wickets in the first innings — the only wicket he didn't take was Tony Lock, who dismissed the other Australian. 10 wickets in the second innings. 19 wickets in a Test. 19/90.
Lock, bowling from the other end, took 1 wicket. Every other wicket fell to Laker. In the second innings, Australia batted for 120 overs and Laker bowled 51.2 of them. He dismissed McDonald, Harvey, Miller, Craig, Mackay, Archer, Johnson, Lindwall, Gil Langley, and Ian Meckiff — the entire batting order.
At the end, Laker walked off Old Trafford with his sweater over his arm, as matter-of-factly as if he had taken a pleasant 5-wicket haul. He was asked how he felt. He said he was pleased. No cricketer has ever taken 19 wickets in a Test since, and no cricketer is likely to.
Laker's 9/37 in the first innings — Australia bowled out for 84
10 wickets in the second innings — the first and only time in Test history
19/90 total — Laker walks off Old Trafford with his sweater over his arm
July 26-31, 1956
4th Test, Old Trafford
First innings
Australia 84 all out — Laker 9/37
Second innings
Australia 205 all out — Laker 10/53
Match result
England win by an innings and 170 runs
England won the Test and the Ashes series. Laker wrote a controversial book about the tour which temporarily damaged his relationship with the ECB. He was eventually reconciled and became one of cricket's most respected broadcasters.
The most complete individual bowling performance in cricket history. 19 wickets in a Test is not just a record — it is a statistical cliff edge. Nobody has ever come within three wickets of it since 1956.
19/90 is cricket's most unreachable bowling record. The next-best performances (18 wickets in a match) have been achieved only once or twice in history. Laker's match at Old Trafford is considered the single greatest individual bowling performance in any format of cricket.
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