All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

223 Ian Thomson hazy, early-autumn conditions that suited the medium pace of 35-year-old Thomson whose four for 23 earned him the Man of the Match award. Back in June there had been rain around aplenty. On Saturday 6 June play was impossible in five Championship matches, whilst at Trent Bridge, where Geoff Boycott was making his Test debut, England and Australia were similarly becalmed. The Worthing ground was council-owned, and thanks to the efforts of its staff who had cleared some 100 gallons of water off the square on Friday, a start was possible. In the absence of England captain Ted Dexter Sussex were led by Alan Oakman. His first action was to lose the toss and in view of the unpromising weather forecast Warwickshire would have been pleased to bat first and to reach 103 for two before the heavens opened and brought an early end to proceedings. Left-hander Bob Barber, who had moved from Lancashire in 1963 and transformed himself into an adventurous opening batsman, was 57 not out. However, he failed to add to his score on Monday as Thomson collected his third wicket thanks to a catch at slip by Ken Suttle, who was getting on for three-quarters of the way through a remarkable sequence of 423 consecutive County Championship appearances. Sunshine and a drying wind on a rain-affected pitch had produced bowler-friendly conditions in which, the top surface having gone, the bounce of the ball had become totally unpredictable. Mike Smith, the Warwickshire captain, 27 not out overnight, had clearly decided that he would try to score runs as quickly as possible before conditions worsened further. However, after hitting two fours and a six off slow left-armer Ronnie Bell he fell leg- before to Thomson to a ball that kept wickedly low. After this only Tom Cartwright showed any ability to resist. Cartwright had done the double in 1962, but as he developed into one of England’s very best medium-pace bowlers his batting became a secondary skill. Nevertheless, farming the bowling cleverly, he nearly saw his side through to 200 before, at one o’clock and with nine wickets down, having already swung Thomson for six, he tried again and was stumped by Terry Gunn, stand-in for England’s Jim Parks. In the circumstances Yorkshireman Gunn, who would play 41 matches for Sussex in seven seasons, had done well to concede just two byes. Thomson, having taken eight for 30 in the morning session, returned to the pavilion to a standing ovation and ‘a triumphant fanfare of car horns’. At the other end Tony Buss (who would eventually take over 900 wickets for Sussex) and John Snow (soon to embark on a major England career) were unrewarded, probably because they bowled too short. Thomson however, putting the ball in the right place, had skilfully used the seam to take advantage of the conditions and come within one run of equalling Cyril Bland’s county record figures from 1899. The Times referred to the ‘cheerful crowd’. It must have been Thomson’s bowling and the sunny weather that perked them up. It certainly wasn’t the Sussex batting, with the only decent first-innings resistance coming from opener Suttle (33), and then the tail as Snow and Bell added 39 for the ninth wicket. Warwickshire didn’t do much better in their second knock, Thomson bowling unchanged for 25 overs to take another five wickets.