All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

210 Premangsu Chatterjee Bengal v Assam, 1956/57 Ranji Trophy National Sports Council of Assam Ground, Jorhat on 26, 27, 28, 29 January 1957 (4-day match) Bengal won by an innings and 206 runs Bengal 505 (SK Shome 122, SK Girdhari 7-157); Assam 54 (PM Chatterjee 10-20) and 245 (SK Girdhari 100, DG Phadkar 7-65) Assam first innings A Guha Roy c Shome b Chatterjee 4 KK Baishya lbw b Chatterjee 1 MP Barua b Chatterjee 2 *D Barua lbw b Chatterjee 2 A Hazarika b Chatterjee 0 SK Girdhari lbw b Chatterjee 14 S Gogoi b Chatterjee 4 TK Barua b Chatterjee 5 A Rajbanshi b Chatterjee 0 +M Talukdar not out 2 G Das b Chatterjee 0 Extras 20 Total (all out, 38 overs) 54 Fall of wickets 1-4, 2-8, 3-12, 4-12, 5-15, 6-29, 7-45, 8-45, 9-54, 10-54 Bengal bowling: PM Chatterjee 19-11-20-10, DG Phadkar 14-12-10-0, KK Biswas 4-2-4-0, SK Shome 1-1-0-0 Bengal: P Roy (capt), SM Basu Thakur, R Sanyal, DG Phadkar, PK Sen (wk), RM Chanda, K Mitter, SK Shome, SN Ghoshal, KK Biswas, PM Chatterjee Premangsu Chatterjee’s ten for 20 is statistically the third best bowling performance ever in first-class cricket, and the best ever outside the UK. He was a slim, bespectacled left-armer who bowled medium-pace inswing, alternated with a ball that moved away off the pitch. He could also slow down and bowl useful spinners. Born in Cuttack, Orissa, Chatterjee captained Calcutta University, and then as a 19-year-old made a promising first-class debut in 1947 with 14 wickets in his first two matches. He was sent to Alf Gover’s Cricket School in London in 1952, and whilst in England he played as an amateur for Royton in the Central Lancashire League, and received an offer to turn professional with Worcestershire. However, by the end of 1955 his first- class career had still been only a modest one: 48 wickets in 15 matches. But the 1955/56 season saw him enter the record books when, playing for Bengal against Madhya Pradesh at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, he became the first bowler to take 15 wickets in a Ranji Trophy match. This was the beginning of a purple patch that saw Chatterjee take 32 wickets in three games. In his next match, the Trophy final against a strong Bombay side, for whom the prolific Test batsman Polly Umrigar made a century, he took