All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

227 Peter Allan hours, and Allan picked up his historic tenth wicket when he had wrist- spinner Keith Kirby caught by Trimble. Allan had taken the last six wickets in a spell yielding only 14 runs, and five of these were overthrows. Bowling unchanged from the Northern end in a Victoria innings that had lasted only 30.6 (eight-ball) overs he had shown superb control and frequently caused the batsmen to play and miss at his outswinger. He had been aided in particular by a steady spell of off spin from Bobby Crane at the other end. Allan no doubt derived some satisfaction from the fact that his all-ten had come against the State who hadn’t selected him when he was based in Melbourne. Meanwhile in Sydney in the Third Test England were closing their first innings with 488 on the board. Given his form the selectors might have been wishing that they had chosen Allan. Surprisingly, although it was his 30th first-class match, he had never before taken more than five wickets in an innings. Some 3,000 had been present to see Allan complete his feat, a reasonable crowd for a Shield match, but somewhat lost in a ground that had accommodated 90,000 on day two of the final Test against the West Indies five years before. In taking the first all-ten in Australia since 1932/33, Allan had broken a number of long-standing records. The previous best figures at the MCG had been nine for 30 by South Australia’s slow left-armer Joe Travers on New Year’s Eve 1900 (he took the first eight wickets, so it was close to an all-ten). Like Allan, Travers played just one Test. Allan’s figures were the best ever for Queensland, improving on the eight for 35 by leg-spinner Richard Wilson on his first-class debut against Auckland on the state’s 1896/97 New Zealand tour. Queensland’s best figures in the Sheffield Shield were eight for 148 by Brian Flynn, another leg-spinner, in November 1953 against a strong New South Wales batting line-up. At the time of writing nobody, apart from Allan, has taken more than eight wickets in an innings for Queensland. Bowlers had a harder time in the second half of the match. First Queensland made 336 and then, left a difficult 387 to win in seven and a half hours, Victoria accomplished their task with three wickets and 48 minutes to spare. Redpath (180) and Watson (109, making his maiden century), both benefited from dropped catches, and this time Allan’s figures were a disappointing nought for 63 from eleven overs. The selectors were impressed however. McKenzie had had a poor Third Test and Allan was picked in his place for the Fourth (the match in which one of his ten victims, Keith Stackpole, made his Test debut). Unfortunately Allan then had to withdraw because of acute shin soreness and a recalled McKenzie took six England first innings wickets. Allan’s chance had gone. In March Allan took another all-ten, this time playing for South Brisbane in a local club match. While not hitting such heights again, Allan continued to take wickets steadily. In 1968/69, his final season, he topped the Australian bowling averages with the impressive figures of 46 wickets at only 16.36 apiece, finishing his Queensland career with 199 wickets, a figure then only exceeded by medium-pace off-spinner Ron Oxenham (but since bettered by a number of bowlers, including Mike Kasprowicz at the top of the list