All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

203 Ken Smales heart. He initially performed steadily without setting the world alight, and then in 1955 took 117 wickets. No doubt Nottinghamshire’s Australian import Bruce Dooland was glad of the help. The previous year he had taken 179 wickets in the Championship, the rest of the attack taking 210 between them. In five years in England Dooland would take 805 wickets with his quickish wrist spin (and do the double twice) and perform wonders in rejuvenating his adopted county. The Erinoid at Stroud was a small, narrow ground in hilly terrain, laid out after the War thanks to the efforts of the managing director of the plastic-manufacturing company after which it is named. The match was its first-class debut and a grand occasion, attracting a good crowd. Local firms helped provide seating, a band played, the local MP attended, and there was a dance in the evening. Stroud would eventually host 14 first- class matches. Unfortunately the pitch wasn’t that good and many of them didn’t last the distance, and with falling attendances the county called it a day after 1963. A few years later the ground had disappeared under concrete. Nottinghamshire were on a southern tour which included visits to Gravesend, Cardiff and Bath. They would finish eighth in the Championship, a position they had only bettered once since the War. Twelfth the previous summer, the home team would do much better, finishing third just behind runners-up Lancashire. In a wet summer they were particularly indebted to Sam Cook’s left-arm spin and the off breaks of Bomber Wells. Unfortunately their best batsman Tom Graveney was absent on Test match duty. In cold damp conditions Nottinghamshire never recovered from the early loss of their leading batsman, and captain, Reg Simpson, brilliantly run out from short midwicket by Arthur Milton. Gloucestershire began their reply well against Arthur Jepson and Alan Walker (a compatriot of Dooland, who later in the month would take four wickets in four balls against Leicestershire with his left-arm pace). Nobody has surpassed 40-year-old Jepson’s eventual post-war total of 968 wickets for the county, but he had often had little experienced new-ball support and Smales himself sometimes had to help out at the other end. The introduction of spin changed things, Smales causing Gloucestershire’s 43-year-old captain George Emmett to play on with the score 45. Bill Knightley-Smith was joined by Ron Nicholls and, with the pair carefully taking the score to 76 just before the close, Gloucestershire could feel satisfied with their day’s work. However, Smales struck again, tempting Nicholls into hitting a return catch. Nicholls would eventually play no fewer than 534 first-class matches, and remarkably every one was for Gloucestershire. Smales wasn’t finished for the day yet: he had Cornish left-hander Jack Crapp, another long-serving 43-year-old, caught at short leg and then bowled nightwatchman, and fellow Yorkshireman, Peter Rochford. The home side closed precariously at 78 for four. Although Smales had overnight figures of four for 12, with Dooland bowling at the other end he can hardly have dreamt of an all-ten. However, that