England v South Africa
1924-06-16
On a cloudy Edgbaston morning in June 1924, the new Sussex pair of Arthur Gilligan and Maurice Tate skittled South Africa for 30 — the lowest Test innings total ever made by a side that had won the toss. Tate took 4 for 12 and Gilligan 6 for 7, and the partnership with the new ball that would carry England through the mid-1920s was christened.
Sussex and England
1923-09-15
Through 1922 and 1923, on the advice of his Sussex captain Arthur Gilligan, the 28-year-old off-spinner Maurice Tate switched to fast-medium swing bowling. The change produced 219 wickets in 1923, his Test debut against South Africa at Edgbaston in 1924, and the bowling career that became the model for the English fast-medium swing tradition.
Australia
1888-09-30
Charles Thomas Biass Turner, nicknamed 'The Terror', was the outstanding bowler of the late 1880s. In the wet English summer of 1888 he took 283 first-class wickets at 11.27 — a tally only ever bettered by Tom Richardson in 1895 and Tich Freeman in 1928 and 1933. The previous Australian summer he had become the only bowler ever to take 100 first-class wickets in a single Australian season. He reached 50 Test wickets in only six matches (still the record) and was the second bowler in history to 100 Test wickets, behind Johnny Briggs by three days in 1895.
Surrey / England
1885-08-31
George Alfred Lohmann was the Surrey amateur-turned-professional who became, by 1888, the deadliest English bowler of his generation. He played his first county match in 1884, took 142 first-class wickets and 571 runs in 1885, and made his Test debut in 1886. He went on to take Test wickets at 10.75 — the lowest career average of any Test bowler in history with 50+ wickets — and to record a strike rate (34.1) that no one has ever bettered. By the end of the 1880s he was as central to England's bowling attack as Spofforth had been to Australia's.
Australia
1878-06-01
Fred Spofforth was 6ft 3in tall, lean, and bowled with what contemporaries called 'all legs, arms and nose'. After his initial fast spells in 1878 he developed an extraordinary capacity to bowl medium and slow with the same action — concealing pace changes invisibly. He stared at batsmen during his run-up. He was the first bowler treated as a deliberate intimidator.
Sussex
1825-05-01
William Lillywhite — known to history as 'The Nonpareil' for his unrivalled accuracy and command — emerged from Sussex club cricket in the mid-1820s as the most influential bowler of his generation. With his partner Jem Broadbridge he made roundarm the dominant bowling style of the era, drove Sussex to their claim as champion county, and forced the MCC to amend the Laws of Cricket in 1828 and again in 1835.