All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

138 united at the crease. Turnbull is one of Glamorgan’s finest batsmen. Clay is one of Glamorgan’s finest bowlers, but he also had two centuries to his name. They were Glamorgan’s first two England cricketers but, even more importantly, in the 1930s the off-the-field fund-raising activities of these two friends ensured the survival of the poverty-stricken county. Killed in the War, Turnbull did not live to witness his county’s greatest moment, but in 1948 off-spinner Clay, then aged 50, would play a key role in Glamorgan’s first Championship title, taking nine wickets in the crucial match at Bournemouth at the end of August, and topping the national averages. Any thoughts of titles were far from their minds in 1929, but at least the pair steadied the ship and the home crowd must have been hopeful of victory. However, with the score 55, Geary struck again, bowling Turnbull, then quickly having Clay caught by Les Berry and, without further help from the fielders, clearing up the tail. One of his victims was previous year’s captain Trevor Arnott, trapped in front for his second duck of the match, and the fifth of the innings. Glamorgan’s 68 would have been even poorer without a generous donation of 19 extras. Geary’s last victim was 19-year-old wicketkeeper Trevor Every who was playing in his debut season. His career showed great promise but ended tragically. He had to pull out during the first match of the 1934 season against Kent because he could not pick up the flight of the ball and within a year his sight had gone. The match was over in two days and Geary’s analysis was a world record (beating Vogler’s 10 for 26) which must have seemed unbeatable – until it was beaten three years later. His match figures, sixteen for 96, are also still a Leicestershire record. The early finish gave Geary all next day to get to The Oval where he was due to play in the Fifth Test against the South Africans. Since 1929 only three teams have lost in the Championship whilst chasing fewer than 84 to win. And the next to achieve this feat? Well sadly for Johnnie Clay, Dai Davies, Emrys Davies and Arnold Dyson, who played in both matches, it was Glamorgan again: set 70 to win at The Gnoll, Neath in 1936 they were spun out for 61 by Worcestershire’s Peter Jackson and Dick Howorth. Together with Ewart Astill, Geary carried the Leicestershire attack for many years, finally retiring in 1938. In his second benefit match in 1936 he took six for 36 and seven for 7 against Warwickshire. He must have wondered if the £10 the rain-affected match yielded him was worthy recompense. Because of injury Geary bowled relatively little in his last season but made three of his eight first-class centuries, finishing with 13,501 first-class runs to add to his 2,063 wickets. His county career over, he coached for 20 years at Charterhouse, where he fired Peter May with the ambition to reach the top, and then for another decade at Rugby. The cheerful and universally-popular George Geary died in his home county in 1981, leaving Harold Larwood as the only surviving member of the victorious Ashes-winning England team at The Oval in 1926. George Geary