All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

134 Tich Freeman the ball Freeman was on, and he soon yorked Charlie Hallows, beaten in the air by the leg-spinner’s deceptive flight. After this, the only resistance of any substance came from Ernest Tyldesley, who had seen it all before, and is still his county’s highest run-scorer, and 29-year-old left-hander Eddie Paynter who was playing his first full season, hadn’t yet made a first-class century (although he would remedy this omission twice in July) but would be an England Test player by the end of the summer. Their fifth-wicket partnership had reached 80 when Freeman, returning to the attack at 3.15 pm, dismissed both batsmen in the same over: first trapping Tyldesley in front of the stumps with a googly and then taking a brilliant return catch as Paynter drove the ball back hard to his left. Tyldesley would eventually be dismissed 22 times by Freeman, more times than by any other bowler. However, their paths often crossed and Tyldesley returned the compliment by scoring more runs against Kent than against any other team. Four wickets down for 146 soon became 159 for nine. A few tailender’s blows from McDonald moved the score along, but at 184 he swung once too often, missed, and Freeman had become the only man to have taken three all-tens. It might never have happened: in the previous over, McDonald had been dropped at long off by Bill Ashdown off Wally Hardinge’s left-arm spin. A great bowler, 40-year-old McDonald had lost form and was in his last season with his adopted county. He would return to Lancashire League cricket and six years later was killed on the road near Bolton as a result of a motor car collision. Freeman had been supported by some brilliant fielding, but given the quality of the pitch 184 all out was a poor total for a team most of whom were (or would be) Test cricketers. Freeman had used his googly just enough to create uncertainty among the Lancashire batsmen, and with the possible exception of Paynter none of them had played him with any confidence. Lancashire had been on the receiving end of an all-ten for the third time in three years, two of which had been inflicted by Freeman. Eight of the side had appeared in all three matches (see statistical appendix) and nine had appeared in both of the Kent matches. Adventurous batting took Kent to 143 for two by the close, and with Frank Woolley 51 not out spectators planning to watch on the second day must have anticipated seeing the great left-hander reach another hundred. Unfortunately bad weather postponed this pleasure until the final day and left little opportunity for Kent to force a result, Lancashire easily playing out time on a placid pitch on which Freeman bowled 15 wicketless overs before more rain brought a premature close at four o’clock. The rest of the country had been similarly affected by the elements and only at Lord’s, where Middlesex beat Essex, was a result reached. Captained by the enterprising Percy Chapman whose Test career, like Freeman’s, had recently come to an end, Kent were unable to maintain their early season form over the rest of the season but still finished a creditable third in the Championship behind Yorkshire and Gloucestershire, for whom spinners Charlie Parker and Tom Goddard totalled 327 Championship wickets.