On the first day of the final 1948 Ashes Test, Ray Lindwall produced what Don Bradman called 'the most devastating and one of the fastest spells I ever saw in Test cricket'. Lindwall took 6/20 in 16.1 overs, including a post-lunch burst of 5/8 in 8.1 overs, as England were dismissed for 52 — at the time their lowest Test total at home since 1888. Hutton's 30 was the only score above 6. The collapse set up Bradman's farewell duck and the series clean sweep.
Lindwall, then 26, had emerged from the 1945 Victory Tests as Australia's premier fast bowler. By the 1948 tour he had refined a high, classical action — body sideways, arm fully over — and could bowl the bouncer, the inswinging yorker and the slower ball in any over. He took 86 first-class wickets at 15.68 on the 1948 tour.
Australia had already taken the Ashes 3-0 with the Headingley chase. The Oval pitch, after rain, was uncovered overnight and was tacky on the first morning. Yardley elected to bat. England lined up: Hutton, Dewes, Edrich, Compton, Crapp, Yardley, Watkins, Evans, Bedser, Young, Hollies. By lunch they were 47/4.
Norman Yardley won the toss on a damp Oval pitch and chose to bat. The decision proved disastrous against the Australian new-ball pair of Lindwall and Keith Miller, supported by Bill Johnston. Hutton was the only England batsman to suggest he could play the bowling: he made 30 in 124 minutes before being last man out, caught Tallon bowled Lindwall.
Lindwall's spell after lunch was the centrepiece. Operating from the Vauxhall End with a strong south-westerly breeze behind him, he bowled at sustained 90mph-plus, using late inswing, the bouncer and the yorker in sequence. Eight of his 16.1 overs came in the post-lunch session; in that spell he took 5 wickets for 8 runs. Four of his six dismissals were either bowled or LBW.
The collapse — 47/4 at lunch became 52 all out by mid-afternoon — was so quick that Bradman, watching from the balcony, was rumoured to have ordered tea sandwiches early. Australia's reply opened with Sid Barnes (61) and Arthur Morris (196), Bradman bowled second ball for 0 by Hollies in between. Lindwall finished with 6/20 in the innings; the match ended in an Australian win by an innings and 149 runs.
Yardley wins toss, elects to bat on damp Oval pitch
Dewes, Edrich, Crapp out before lunch — England 47/4
Lindwall's post-lunch spell: 8.1 overs, 5 wickets, 8 runs
Compton bowled Lindwall 4
Yardley caught Tallon bowled Lindwall 7
Hutton last man out for 30 (124 mins)
England 52 all out — lowest home Test total since 1888
Lindwall final figures: 16.1-5-20-6
14 Aug 1948 morning
Yardley wins toss, England bat
Lunch
England 47/4
Post-lunch
Lindwall takes 5/8 in 8.1 overs
Mid-afternoon
England all out 52 (Lindwall 6/20)
Day 2
Bradman b Hollies 0; Morris 196
18 Aug 1948
Australia win by an innings and 149 runs
“The most devastating and one of the fastest spells I ever saw in Test cricket.”
“Ray was simply too quick for us on the day. We had no answer.”
England's 52 was their lowest home Test total since being bowled out for 53 by Australia at Lord's in 1888. The collapse exposed how deep the post-war batting weakness ran for England — Hutton excepted. Australia replied with 389; Bradman was bowled second ball by Hollies for 0 between Barnes (61) and Morris (196). England were bowled out again for 188 (Hutton 64) and lost by an innings and 149.
The defining fast-bowling spell of the post-war decade and the foundation of the Lindwall-Miller legend. England's 52 was a humiliation but also a glimpse of what genuine pace, properly handled, could do on a damp English pitch.
Lindwall's 6/20 is a yardstick spell, ranked alongside Trueman at Headingley 1961, Holding at The Oval 1976 and Marshall at Old Trafford 1988 in lists of great fast-bowling performances. The spell was the moment Lindwall became, in Bradman's own listing, the equal of any fast bowler the game had produced.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.