All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

181 Ken Graveney for the future. Let down by unreliable batting Derbyshire however had a disappointing season, slipping from sixth to fifteenth place in the table. The sides had met earlier, Tom Goddard’s second-innings nine for 61 at Bristol bowling Gloucestershire to an innings victory. Graveney had only been required to bowl ten overs in the match. The only wicket he took, the first to fall in the second Derbyshire innings, prevented Goddard taking another all-ten. Batting first in the return match at Chesterfield’s beautiful Queen’s Park ground, Gloucestershire were soon in trouble with opener Tom Graveney bowled without scoring by Cliff Gladwin and captain Basil Allen leg-before to veteran Bill Copson, his only wicket of the match. Although George Emmett and Jack Crapp both reached 30, in a ten-over post-lunch spell Gladwin, who swung the ball awkwardly in a strong crosswind and took four for nought, reduced them to 91 for eight, Ken joining his brother as one of five ducks. Twenty-one-year-old Milton however stood firm and his 92 not out saw Gloucestershire to 198 all out. It was his highest first- class score so far. He would eventually make 56 centuries in a 26-year career, although the first was still two years away. He was also the last man to play both football and cricket for England. He received unlikely support from Tom Goddard (20) and left-arm spinner Sam Cook whose then career-best 18 was a score he would rarely surpass despite eventually batting 611 times. Derbyshire also struggled in turn and conceded a first-innings lead of 49. Graveney took the first wicket, bowling Repton schoolmaster Dick Sale (who had been playing for Warwickshire in the match when Eric Hollies took his all-ten), but after that spinners Goddard and Cook did the damage. Gloucestershire fared much better second time around. Gladwin’s four for 90 gave him nine wickets in the match, while the six for 111 that Oxford University’s Donald Carr took with his occasional slow left-arm spin (the first of his five 5-wicket hauls in a 446-match career) will have been some compensation for the two first-ball ducks he made in the match. Derbyshire set off late on the second afternoon to chase 352. It was a difficult target and the expectation was that Gloucestershire’s two main bowlers, Goddard and Cook, would spin their side to victory, after the opening bowlers Graveney and George Lambert (future father-in-law of Test umpire David Constant) had had a couple of overs to get the shine off the ball. Graveney upset the plan by dismissing Charlie Elliott with the fifth ball of his second over. Elliott, Derbyshire’s top-scorer in 1949 and whose uncle Harry had kept wicket when Tommy Mitchell had taken his all-ten, would go on to umpire in 42 Test matches. Graveney added more wickets in his third, fourth and fifth overs (the unfortunate Carr brilliantly caught and bowled) by which time Derbyshire were 13 for four. However he failed to strike in his sixth and so had to come off! By close of play Derbyshire had recovered to 69 for four, mainly thanks to Dusty Rhodes who was 48 not out. It was the school holidays but history does not record whether his 13-year-old son, future England fast bowler Harold, was watching. Making good use of a wearing pitch Graveney had the satisfying overnight figures of four for 5.