All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

178 Jim Sims Zealand, but like many good English wrist-spinners he never made it at the top level, and Kent’s Doug Wright is still the only one who has taken 100 Test wickets (albeit at a pricey 39 runs apiece). At county level however Sims was one of the mainstays of a Middlesex side that between 1935 and 1949 never ended outside the Championship top three. He had intended to retire at the end of the 1948 season but in view of his good form he accepted a new contract. He played on until 1952, and even in 1951 at the age of 48 he took 90 wickets in all first-class matches. Sims finished his career with 1,581 wickets and only Fred Titmus and the Hearnes, JT and JW, have exceeded the 1,257 he took for Middlesex. Back in 1948 the first-class fixture list was so much different from today’s. The first match (Worcestershire v Australians) didn’t start until 28 April, and the Championship season ran from 8 May until 31 August (compared with 7 April until 28 September in 2017). What a waste! All those lovely balmy early autumn days (sometimes) and no cricket. As some consolation, festival matches were played in early September which at least allowed holidaymakers to see some cricket. In 1948 sevenmatches in all were played at Hastings, Scarborough and Kingston-upon-Thames. Holidaymakers, Kingston-upon-Thames? Well all right, the Kingston festival in south-west London wasn’t exactly played beside the seaside, or as famous as some others, or as long lasting, but the 16 matches played there between 1946 and 1953 produced some good cricket, and I expect Jim Sims had fond memories of it. The ground belonged to aircraft manufacturers Hawkers and was located at one of their two Kingston factories. In 1928 it had been leased to Leyland, the motor vehicle manufacturers, for 20 years, with Hawker taking it back in 1948. Hence the ground was first called Leyland Motors Ground and later Hawker’s Sports Ground. The factory was demolished in the 1990s but the ground survived providing a range of sporting activities. Tony Pawson, Kent and Oxford University, the youngest member of the side, captained an East team that comprised players from Kent, Essex, Surrey and Middlesex. Pawson was a man of many parts: among other things he would play football for the England amateurs and for Charlton in the First Division, and become world fly-fishing champion. West were led by Bev Lyon, hard-hitting batsman and inspiring captain of Gloucestershire in the early 1930s. Lyon had played relatively infrequently since, but came back this one last time at the age of 46 to end a 267-match career. Worcestershire and Gloucestershire made up the majority of the West side, with in addition one player each from Northamptonshire and Somerset. The teams were reasonably well matched, but East always had the edge with Sims’ bowling on the last day giving them the final decisive advantage. In true festival fashion 498 runs were scored on the first day. East made 392, Pawson leading from the front with a stylish 128. Sims, batting number nine, remained 30 not out, resisting the wiles of fellow wrist- spinner Worcestershire’s Roly Jenkins who took five for 84. Jenkins had a fine season, his 1,356 runs and 88 wickets earning selection for the tour of South Africa where he topped the England averages with 16 wickets, a