On 12 July 1932, slow left-armer Hedley Verity took 10 wickets for 10 runs at Headingley, dismissing a strong Nottinghamshire side for 67 in their second innings. The figures — 19.4 overs, 16 maidens, 10 for 10 — remain the best bowling analysis in the history of first-class cricket. Inside the spell were seven wickets in 15 deliveries, and a hat-trick. Yorkshire won by 10 wickets.
Verity, then 27, was already established as Wilfred Rhodes's heir at Yorkshire. He had taken 10 wickets in an innings once before — 10 for 36 against Warwickshire in 1931. The 1932 season was his first as Yorkshire's senior spinner.
Yorkshire batted first and made 163; Notts replied with 234 thanks to Walter Keeton's century. Yorkshire's second innings of 229 left Notts a target of 139 — and then rain fell on the uncovered pitch overnight.
Rain on the second evening had left the Headingley pitch damp and unpredictable. Notts, set 139 in the fourth innings, started solidly enough — Walter Keeton and Charlie Harris took the score to 38 before Verity began to spin the ball sharply off the wet surface. From there it became one of the most concentrated destructions in cricket's recorded history.
Verity took seven wickets in 15 deliveries, including the hat-trick of Walker, Voce and Larwood — yes, those Larwood and Voce, by then the most feared opening fast attack in England, both castled by a spinner with the ball turning square. His final analysis, 19.4 (six-ball) overs, 16 maidens, 10 wickets for 10 runs, set a record that has now stood for over nine decades. The previous best — Ted Tyler 10/49 in 1895 — was halved.
The figures alone do not capture the precision: 16 maidens means roughly 80 per cent of his deliveries were left alone or defended, and the average runs conceded per wicket was a single. Notts were all out 67. Yorkshire knocked off 139 for the loss of no wicket; Sutcliffe finished with an unbeaten fifty.
The spell more or less guaranteed Verity's selection for the 1932-33 Ashes tour. Nine months later he would be in Australia under Jardine, picked up 11 wickets in the series including the dismissal of Bradman, and return as the spinning conscience of an attack defined by its quicks. He died in Italy in 1943, aged 38, leading his Green Howards regiment in the assault on the Salerno beachhead. His best figures will probably never be beaten.
Notts begin the chase at 38/0; pitch dries unevenly.
Verity removes Keeton; from this point the collapse is total.
Hat-trick: Walker, Voce, Larwood — Notts' middle and lower order.
Seven wickets in 15 deliveries.
Final analysis: 19.4-16-10-10.
Notts all out 67; Yorkshire knock off 139 without loss.
Spell secures Verity's selection for 1932-33 Ashes.
9 Jul 1932
Match begins; Yorkshire 163 first innings.
11 Jul, evening
Rain on uncovered pitch; surface deteriorates overnight.
12 Jul, morning
Notts 38/0; Verity introduced.
12 Jul, midday
Hat-trick: Walker, Voce, Larwood.
12 Jul, p.m.
Final analysis 19.4-16-10-10; Notts 67 a.o.
12 Jul, late p.m.
Yorkshire 139/0; win by 10 wickets.
“I shouldn't wonder if we have some fun today.”
“The best ball ever bowled to me.”
Verity was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1932 partly on the strength of this spell. He went to Australia that winter as Jardine's spinner; he was the only English bowler the Australians genuinely respected through Bodyline, and one of the few England players to leave the tour with friendships intact. In 1934 at Lord's he would take 14 wickets in a single day against the same Australians.
Nottinghamshire went on to be runners-up in the 1932 Championship behind Yorkshire. Larwood, dismissed in the hat-trick, would later say it was the best ball ever bowled to him.
The greatest bowling analysis in the recorded history of first-class cricket — a wet Headingley afternoon and 19.4 overs of perfect slow left-arm spin.
10 for 10 has been approached but never matched. Anil Kumble's 10/74 in 1999 took all 10 in an innings but conceded seven times as many runs. The figures are the bedrock of every Yorkshire CCC narrative and the answer to a quiz question every cricket follower learns sooner or later. The match scorecard is preserved in original at the Yorkshire museum at Headingley.
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.