All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

11 John Wisden North v South, 1850 Lord’s Cricket Ground, St John’s Wood on 15 July 1850 (3-day match) North won by an innings and 19 runs Umpires: S Dakin, AJD Diver South 36 (W Clarke 6-?) and 76 (J Wisden 10-?); North 131 (T Sherman 6-?) South second innings J Dean b Wisden 0 JM Lee b Wisden 6 W Caffyn b Wisden 24 +T Box b Wisden 1 N Felix b Wisden 0 J Chester b Wisden 17 R Kynaston b Wisden 0 A Mynn not out 17 J Lillywhite b Wisden 0 T Sherman b Wisden 2 FH Hervey-Bathurst b Wisden 4 Extras (b 3, lb 1, nb 1) 5 Total (all out) 76 Fall of wickets 1-?, 2-?, 3-?, 4-?,5-?, 6-?, 7-?, 8-?,9-?,10-76 North bowling : J Wisden ?-?-?-10, W Clarke ?-?-?-0, RF Skelton ?-?-?-0 North: T Hunt, RB Smythies, J Guy, G Parr, RT King, Lord Burghley, G Chatterton (wk), RF Skelton, J Wisden, Lord Guernsey, W Clarke Even if ‘The Little Wonder’ had never played cricket John Wisden’s name will always be synonymous with the game as founder of the famous Almanack. He was however a considerable cricketer: in modern parlance probably a ‘bowling allrounder’. Born in Brighton in 1826 Wisden had originally been apprenticed to his father Thomas, a builder. His potential was soon spotted, and when his first-class career ended in 1863 he had taken 1,109 wickets, a total only then exceeded by Kent’s William Hillyer, and Sussex team-mate, James Dean. In all matches his record was phenomenal, averaging 225 wickets a season between 1848 and 1859. He also scored 4,140 first-class runs at 14.12, including two centuries, a modest record by modern standards but scores were low when he played and it compares very favourably with contemporary major batsmen. ‘A remarkably good-tempered little fellow with a most comical expression of face’, surprisingly for a ‘fast’ bowler Wisden was under 5ft 6 in tall. At the start of his career he weighed only seven stone although by the end he had reached eleven stone. He bowled very accurately with a very smooth round-arm action, bringing the ball back from outside the off stump. Towards the end of his career, as his fitness declined, he often bowled under arm, but as one of sport’s early entrepreneurs his burgeoning business interests no doubt compensated for his failing cricketing powers. In 1855 Wisden set up a cricketing and cigar business with Fred Lillywhite;