All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

174 Eric Hollies Test debut at Bridgetown, Barbados, under his county captain Bob Wyatt. He topped England’s bowling averages in the series, but played no more Tests until after the War. Employment in a reserved occupation during the War, working for an engineering company, gave Hollies the chance to get in some cricket, and when competition resumed in 1946 he was prepared for battle. This was fortunate for Warwickshire since their next highest Championship wicket-taker after Hollies’ impressive tally of 175 was Jack Marshall, another leg-spinner, with just 43. Fortunately reinforcements arrived and in 1951 Warwickshire won their second Championship, Hollies leading the way with 145 wickets. He was probably helped by an ankle injury which necessitated a shorter run-up and led to him giving the ball more air than usual. Five years later he stepped into the breach as county captain when MCC failed to approve M.J.K. Smith’s special registration. It was not an experience he enjoyed. As a batsman he failed to reach the heights, scoring fewer runs than he took wickets, although he could sometimes stick around when necessary and took part in ten last wicket stands of 50 or more. The return of county cricket in 1946 was enthusiastically received despite appalling weather and amenities at some grounds which left much to be desired. Record attendances were set at many grounds and the counties fared well financially. Inevitably on the field however it was a season of rebuilding and none more so than for Warwickshire who used 31 players in the Championship, many of whom were amateurs who could not appear regularly. Hollies recalled that the composition of the team was often not known until a few hours before the game. Given their problems they did well to win seven matches. Yorkshire would eventually win the Championship for the fourth season in succession, a remarkable performance for a county that scored fewer runs than any other. The Warwickshire side that met Nottinghamshire at the end of July included just three players who had played when Eddie Watts had taken his all-ten against them seven years before: captain Peter Cranmer, Tom Dollery and Hollies. Batting first Warwickshire were dismissed for 170. Recovering from 69 for six they were mainly indebted to off-spinner Bill Fantham who, going in at number eight, made 51, his highest score in a 63-match career, before he was dismissed by the Notts captain George Heane (whose other victim was Hollies, deservedly going in at number eleven). Notts would finish the season only 13th in the Championship, one place above Warwickshire. They did however have a number of very good batsmen, but on a good wicket with the ball hardly turning at all Hollies had dismissed the lot by the close of the first day. And it’s not unreasonable to say that he did it single-handedly, given that he hit the stumps seven times and dismissed the other three batsmen leg-before - the only bowler after John Wisden to take an unaided all-ten. Notts had made a good start against the not particularly fearsome opening pair of Frank Mitchell and Ron Maudsley who between them eventually took only 74 first-class wickets in 84 matches. With 361 League