All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

218 Tony Pearson Cambridge University v Leicestershire, 1961 Brush Ground, Loughborough on 5, 6, 7 July 1961 (3-day match) Toss won by Leicestershire Cambridge University won by six wickets Umpires: R Aspinall, F Jakeman Leicestershire 283 (MR Hallam 115, D Kirby 5-76) and 160 (AJG Pearson 10-78); Cambridge University 337-5 dec (EJ Craig 101) and 109-4 Leicestershire second innings *MR Hallam b Pearson 64 DFX Munden b Pearson 5 S Jayasinghe b Pearson 41 LR Gardner c Brearley b Pearson 0 J Birkenshaw b Pearson 5 +J Mitten b Pearson 0 RL Pratt c Brearley b Pearson 12 CT Spencer c Goodfellow b Pearson 11 RJ Barratt c Brearley b Pearson 5 JS Savage not out 9 BS Boshier c Willard b Pearson 6 Extras (lb 2) 2 Total (all out, 62.3 overs) 160 Fall of wickets 1-27, 2-79, 3-79, 4-95, 5-95, 6-109, 7-131, 8-137, 9-154, 10-160 Cambridge University bowling: AJG Pearson 30.3-8-78-10, MJL Willard 19-6-41-0, D Kirby 11-1-30-0, NSK Reddy 2-1-9-0 Cambridge University: EJ Craig, A Goodfellow, JWT Wilcox, AR Lewis, NSK Reddy, JM Brearley (wk), D Kirby (capt), MJL Willard, RH Thomson, PD Brodrick, AJG Pearson Tony Pearson is one of the lesser lights of the all-ten fraternity. His first- class career lasted three seasons, he only took 138 first-class wickets, and apart from his Cambridge University career he played just half a dozen matches for Somerset. Nevertheless, to take all-ten against a county side was a considerable achievement for a 19-year-old university freshman. Born in Pinner, north-west London, Pearson attended Downside, a Catholic public school south-west of Bath whose most famous cricketing alumnus is Glamorgan’s Maurice Turnbull. Pearson was tall and strongly-built and made good use of his height to bowl outswingers at a lively fast-medium. In his last season at school he had also headed the batting averages, but this prowess with the bat did not transfer to the first-class game as his career total of 355 runs in 51 innings attests. For the Universities, victories against first-class counties were particularly welcome. In 1960, Cambridge had beaten three county sides, a record equalled in post-war years only in 1955. The following year however was