Pakistan
1996-09-15
In the mid-1990s, Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq developed the doosra — a delivery that turned away from a right-hand batter while looking like a stock off-break. Pakistan keeper Moin Khan named it 'doosra' (the other one); the delivery transformed off-spin and triggered a decade of chucking debates.
Australia vs West Indies
31 January - 5 February 1976
Lance Gibbs took his 309th Test wicket — Gary Gilmour caught Fredericks — in the sixth Test of the 1975-76 series at the MCG, passing Fred Trueman's previous record of 307 and becoming the first spinner to lead the all-time Test wicket-takers' list. The wicket was his last in international cricket. He retired at the end of the tour, holding the record until Dennis Lillee passed him in December 1981.
Australia vs West Indies
1961-01-28
Lance Gibbs of British Guiana became the first West Indian to take a Test hat-trick when he dismissed Kline, Misson and Mackay in consecutive deliveries in the fourth Test against Australia at Adelaide in January 1961. He took 5 for 66 in the innings; West Indies won the match — part of the famous series that had already produced the first Tied Test at Brisbane.
South Africa vs England
1957-02-20
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.
England vs Australia
1956-07-31
On 31 July 1956 at Old Trafford, Jim Laker took 10 for 53 in Australia's second innings to finish with 19 for 90 in the match — figures that stand alone in Test history. His 9 for 37 in the first innings was followed by all ten in the second. England won by an innings and 170 runs. Laker's match analysis remains the best in any first-class match anywhere; only Anil Kumble has since matched the ten-wicket innings.
Yorkshire, England
1908-08-31
Schofield Haigh, the Yorkshire medium-pacer with a sharp off-break, took 158 wickets at 12.51 in the 1902 county season — a strike rate matched in modern English cricket only by Colin Blythe (1912) and Harold Larwood (1931). Often the third bowler behind Hirst and Rhodes in published accounts, Haigh played 11 Tests for England and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1901.
Australia, England
1904-03-07
Hugh Trumble took 7 for 28 in his last Test innings, including a hat-trick of Bosanquet, Plum Warner and Dick Lilley, as Australia beat England by 218 runs at the MCG in March 1904. The hat-trick was Trumble's second in Tests (the first being against England at the same ground in 1902); he was the first man to take two Test hat-tricks. Australia won the dead rubber but lost the series 3-2.
England v Australia
1896-08-10
On a damp Oval pitch in August 1896, Australia's off-spinner Hugh Trumble took 6 for 59 and 6 for 30 — match figures of 12 for 89 — yet finished on the losing side. Australia, set 111 to win, collapsed to 19 for 8 and were all out for 44, England winning the third Test and the series 2-1. Wisden called Trumble 'on all wickets distinctly the best bowler on the side'; the match remains one of cricket's most celebrated bowling efforts in defeat.