Perfect 10!

The Holy Grail for a footballer might be to score the perfect hattrick, for a golfer, to shoot a 59, for a cricketer, the Holy Grail must be to take all ten wickets in the innings.

Now, its not impossible for cricketers who havent or didn’t play the game for very long to pick up, say, a nine wicket haul. Stuart Neal picked up 9 wickets for 18 runs in a Humberside Alliance game for Broughton Second XI against White Swann in May 1989. It proved to mark almost two thirds of his entire senior wicket haul. Great Bowlers like Andy Ellis (Appfrod) never picked up a 9 wicket haul in league cricket. Others did three times each in local league cricket like Gig Smith (Brigg Town) and Dave Atkinson (Broughton). Dave Atkinson’s third league 9 wicket haul, 9 for 41 against Hartsholme in May 1991 came close to a ten wicket haul but Steve Rayner, despite bowling wide of the stumps to aid Dave’s quest, still managed to encourage the Hartsholme last man to nick behind.

These were some nearly men. Here are six instances of the real deal.

 

Firstly, Richard Brown of Electricity Sports managed to achieve the feat in a Scunthorpe League Division Three match way back in May 1952. He collected all ten of the Broughton Second XI wickets to fall for just 18 runs as he bowled his side to one of the largest victories in terms of runs you would be likley to see in the Scunthorpe League. He had previously added 31 with the bat as his side ran up the significant (by 1952 standards) 176 for 5 and his magnificent haul of wickets bowled the Broughton Second XI out for 57.

 

Not many people will take 10 in an innings and finish on the losing side but Barry Firth did in June 1978. Opening the innings he bowled 17.5-4-51-10 for Normanby Park Works Third XI against Keadby Power Station to bowl them out for 99 whilst playing in the first round of the North Lindsey League Knock Out Cup. His side could only manage 61 runs in response. ‘Wily Old Barry’ to coin a phrase used by local journalist Nigel Fisher delivered the ball occasionally from beyond the return crease, with plenty of loop. He was an assistant manager at the Ore Preperation Plant on the Normanby Park Works.

 

Perhaps the best known instance occurred in 1988 when Dave Newton picked up 10 wickets for 5 runs, a record haul in the Humberside Cricket Alliance. His achievement came for Alkborough 2nds against Caistor 2^nd XI. Neil Gray remembers the game well. “He took about 8 wickets for just 2 runs before a young lad batting at 9 or 10 for Caistor hit him for a 3”. Neil went on to say that “ Dave always bowled up the hill, moved it both ways, rarely bowled a bad ball and was the nicest bloke you could wish to meet”. These are still the best bowling figures in competative cricket in the Scunthorpe and District area. Dave was later presented with ball he used to take the record haul by Chris Old (Yorkshire and England) when he was Cricket Development Officer for Humberside.

 

The second best bowling figures locally came in a North Lindsey League game for Ian Fletcher of Outcasts against Brigg Town’s Sunday side in 1990. Brigg had chased leather during the afternoon whilst Outcasts racked up 205 for 4. In response Brigg Town lost 5 wickets without scoring a run. Nigel Fisher, at the time clearing up the pots from tea, with Brigg short of a tea lady, came out to spectate proceedings realising he was next man in with Brigg side 8 down and all the wickets to Ian’s name. When Nigel went to the wicket as the last man he helped to double the score before being Ian Fletcher’s 10^th wicket, Brigg, all out 45. His final analysis being 12 – 7 – 8 – 10, Fletch won a national award from one of the cricket magazines of which Whyte and Mackay were the sponsors. Later in the summer, Dave Grundy of Morton, also playing in the North Lindsey League, took 10 for 54 against Scunthorpe Town and finished on the losing side.

 

 

 

Two years later, in April 1992, Appleby Frodingham’s stalwart bowler picked up 10 for 17 against Nettleton Mines in the second teams first match of the season in the Lincolnshire League Division One. Dave also received some recognition in the nationals for collecting the second best innings figures in Lincolnshire County League history. Appleby Frodingham had stuttered to 92 for 9 in their 45 overs. Dave got to work with his away swingers to collect all ten for 17 runs to bowl Nettleton Mines out for 27 in 26 overs.

 

Finally in 2004, Brigg Town, batting first against App Frod 3rds on a Sunday, made 133 having first use of the Brigg Recreation Ground wicket. In the second innings Paul Taylor, a former App Frod cricketer, pictured below, produced a “one man blitz with the ball”. He took 10 wickets for just 37 runs and was twice denied wickets with no-balls. Frod were skittled out for just 71.

 

Another honorary mention is the unique occurance of Luddington’s Buzz o’Brien who took all 9 wickets to fall in an innings vs Haxey in 2008, but Haxey only had 10 men so he couldnt complete a clean sweep.

 

There will be others we have missed im sure, and plenty not in Competiton cricket. This was not intended to be definitive and we will probably look into those in the future but it gives a small insight into those remarkable perfect 10’s