On 20 February 1957 at the New Wanderers in Johannesburg, Hugh Tayfield bowled unchanged through the final day to take 9 for 113 — South Africa's only nine-wicket Test innings haul to date. England, set 232 to win, fell 17 short. Tayfield's match figures of 13 for 192 levelled the series 2-2 and confirmed him as the finest off-spinner of his era.
Tayfield had played 19 Tests by Johannesburg 1957 and had already taken 30 wickets in the 1952-53 series in Australia and 26 in England in 1955. He bowled with a high arm, used drift and arc, and was notorious for his deliberate, measured run-up — he tapped his cap before every delivery, a habit that earned him the nickname 'Toey'.
England had won at Cape Town and lost at Durban. The series was alive at the Wanderers. The pitch had been used for the third Test as well and was already wearing.
England, captained by Peter May, had reached the fourth Test 2-1 up under sustained pressure. Roy McLean's 93 helped South Africa to 340. Tayfield's first-innings 4 for 79 helped restrict England to 251. Russell Endean's 70 took South Africa to 142 in the second innings, leaving England a target of 232 — modest in theory but exposed on a wearing surface.
England began the chase at 14 for 0. Tayfield took 9 for 113 in 37 unchanged overs of off-spin, drift and dip. He bowled May, Cowdrey, Bailey and Insole. He had Compton stumped. Wisden scored him as bowling without a single bad ball. England were 214 all out, 17 short. Tayfield was carried from the field by team-mates.
Tayfield's match figures were 13 for 192 from 71 overs. The series finished 2-2; South Africa had been on the brink of a series win and Tayfield's solo effort was the difference.
Day 1: McLean 93; South Africa 340.
Day 3: England 251; Tayfield 4/79.
Day 4: South Africa 142; Endean 70.
Day 5 morning: England begin chase of 232.
Tayfield bowls 37 overs unchanged through the final day.
England 214 all out; lose by 17 runs.
Tayfield carried off; figures 9/113.
15 February 1957
Wanderers Test begins; South Africa 340.
17-18 February
England 251 and South Africa 142.
20 February morning
England begin chasing 232.
20 February afternoon
Tayfield 9/113; South Africa win by 17 runs.
“He bowled the most accurate spell of off-spin I have ever seen.”
“Toey just kept going. We could not get him off.”
South Africa drew the fifth Test and the series ended 2-2 — a tremendous result for Jackie McGlew's side. Tayfield finished the series with 37 wickets at 17.18, then a series record for South Africa.
He retired in 1960 with 170 Test wickets at 25.91, a then South African record. He died in poverty in 1994. The Wanderers spell remained unmatched among South African Test bowlers until apartheid-era exile.
Wisden's 'Best Test innings bowling' citation in 2001 placed Tayfield's 9 for 113 above Laker, Kumble and any other in cricket history. The combination of marathon spell, sustained accuracy and absence of error made it a study in off-spin perfection.
Tayfield's 9 for 113 was named by Wisden in 2001 as the best Test innings analysis ever bowled — ahead of Laker, Sobers' 5 for 60 and any other. Generations of South African off-spinners cite the spell as the proof of what classical English off-spin can achieve.
A stand at the Wanderers is now named the Hugh Tayfield Stand. The match itself is celebrated annually by South African cricket as one of the country's finest pre-isolation Test wins.
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.