All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

23 William Hickton Lancashire v Hampshire, 1870 Old Trafford, Manchester on 21, 22, 23 July 1870 (3-day match) Lancashire won by ten wickets Umpires: C Coward, W Kay Lancashire 262 (AN Hornby 132, F Tate 6-63) and 6-0; Hampshire 138 and 129 (W Hickton 10-46) Hampshire second innings EL Ede c Birley b Hickton 25 G Carter b Hickton 14 J May not out 14 A Seymour b Hickton 0 H Holmes c Reynolds b Hickton 14 CV Eccles c AB Rowley b Hickton 23 AH Wood c AB Rowley b Hickton 3 G Ubsdell b Hickton 9 C Martin b Hickton 1 TH Wilson b Hickton 2 F Tate b Hickton 12 Extras (b 7, lb 4, w 1) 12 Total (all out, 83.2 overs) 129 Fall of wickets 1-3, 2-5, 3-29, 4-69, 5-86, 6-87, 7-102, 8-113, 9-117, 10-129 Lancashire bowling : FH Birley 7-3-12-0, W Hickton 36.2-19-46-10, AB Rowley 40-21-59-0 Lancashire: AN Hornby, J Ricketts, EB Rowley (capt), JF Leese, DW MacKinnon, AB Rowley, TH Rushton, W Hickton, WJ Marchbank (wk), FH Birley, FR Reynolds Bill Hickton was born in Hardstoft, Derbyshire in 1842. Most of his first- class cricket was played for the county of his birth, but initially he turned out for Lancashire. He bowled round arm at a pace categorised at the time as fast. He was an archetypal Victorian professional cricketer, playing for more than one county (sometime in the same season when the opportunity arose), as well as for other clubs playing non-first-class cricket. It could be a hard life, not well paid, and not paid at all in the winter, but preferable to the other alternatives which were usually working in a factory, down a mine, or as a farm labourer. Some might receive benefits, but many eminent players still ended their lives in poverty. Some of the hardness of this life can be detected in contemporary photographs of Hickton which show a fairly tall well-built man, moustached, short-haired and with side whiskers meeting under the chin. Like some other colleagues his cricketing wear resembled that of a working man of the period: a non-white collarless shirt, knotted neckerchief, and flannel trousers supported by a wide belt. Hickton had made his first-class debut in 1867, for Lancashire against Surrey at The Oval. By the start of the 1870 season he had played 17 matches and taken 98 wickets, including five or more wickets in an innings