All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

15 Edward Walker +T Lockyer c Daft b Walker 8 CG Lane c Jackson b Walker 9 J Caesar not out 16 G Griffith c Carpenter b Walker 37 W Martingell c Wisden b Walker 2 Extras (b 4, lb 1) 5 Total (all out, 85 overs) 131 Fall of wickets 1-5, 2-6, 3-39, 4-39, 5-39, 6-56, 7-72, 8-77, 9-126, 10-131 England bowling : J Jackson 36-15-46-0, VE Walker 43-17-74-10, J Bickley 6-3-6-0 England: T Hayward, R Daft, RP Carpenter, J Grundy, AJD Diver, J Lillywhite, J Wisden, E Stephenson (wk), VE Walker (capt), J Jackson, J Bickley Walker’s first all-ten came in his twenty-first first-class match. He had already had considerable success, taking five or more wickets in an innings 11 times. However, his performance for England against Surrey at The Oval in July 1859, both with bat and ball, surpassed anything he, or anybody else, had achieved before. Considered probably the best allround cricketer in the world at the time, he was about to show why. By the end of the 1850s Surrey were the best team in the land. In 1858 they had beaten England by an innings and 28 runs, mainly due to six wickets in each innings by Heathfield Stephenson and a century by William Caffyn. In 1861/62 Stephenson was to lead the first England side to tour Australia. It included six Surrey colleagues. However the following year saw a complete reversal, England winning by 392 runs in a match in which Walker took 14 wickets and scored 128 runs, a total not far off the combined Surrey total of 170. The match was played before a ‘numerous assemblage of spectators’. The Oval was still a fairly new ground and facilities were rudimentary. There was a pavilion, but no facilities for the general public; with no seating yet or even built-up embankments, they just stood in a ring around the ground. After heavy overnight rain England, captained by Walker, made 172. Cambridgeshire’s Thomas Hayward top scored with 67. Sadly, dying in 1876 aged 41, he did not live long enough to see the great success enjoyed by his nephew Tom for Surrey and England. William Caffyn bowled unchanged taking five for 84. Walker opened the England bowling with John ‘Foghorn’ Jackson (who had twice taken nine wickets in an innings the previous season). It was an interesting pairing. Walker had impressive side whiskers and a centre parting, Jackson was over six foot tall and 14 stone; Walker would die in the family home, Jackson in the Liverpool workhouse; and Walker bowled slow under arm, Jackson fast round arm. Following a short slightly stooped run Walker usually bowled round the wicket (to prevent his knuckles hitting the stumps). His hand was usually higher than his hip, suggesting that he was borderline round arm, with the result that the ball came at the batsman from a considerable angle. He spun the ball both ways, just enough, and varied his pace considerably, including a ball tossed very high with a parabolic flight. A tug of his cap warned slip and wicketkeeper that