All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

268 It wasn’t his only record-breaking performance in his two years at Durham. At the end of the 2006 season Durham went to Leeds for their last match with a chance of being relegated. Yorkshire made 677 for seven declared (Darren Lehmann 339, Gibson one for 150) and when Gibson joined captain Dale Benkenstein with the score 191 for six things were looking bad. However when the next wicket fell (Benkenstein 151), the score had climbed to 506, and their 315-run partnership was the ninth highest in cricket history for the seventh wicket. Gibson made 155 (the second, and highest, first-class century of his career), the match was drawn, relegated Nottinghamshire lost to champions Sussex, and Durham were safe – by half a point! Remarkably ten years previously Gibson had also been involved in Glamorgan’s seventh wicket record when he and Tony Cottey added 211 against Leicestershire at Swansea. (With the ball Gibson had match figures of nought for 209!) With 23 wickets in eight Championship matches Gibson had had a quiet start to the 2007 season. Durham and Hampshire had met a month previously at The Rose Bowl, Hampshire winning by 50 runs. It hadn’t been a particularly successful match for Gibson: one wicket in 36 overs, and although he made 33 not out in the first innings he made a duck, courtesy of Shane Warne, in the second. Batting first in the return Durham’s 252 was mainly due to a captain’s knock of 114 from Benkenstein. Gibson, who hit the only six of the innings, contributed a useful 28. With rain about Hampshire couldn’t start their first innings until the third day, but once they did Durham, or rather Gibson, made up for lost time and skittled them out in just under two and half hours. The unsettled weather worked to Gibson’s advantage. Cutting down his pace and relying more on swing than seam he bowled unchanged but with the benefit of two breaks. Michael Carberry had made 192 not out in his previous innings as Hampshire successfully chased 331 to beat Warwickshire, and Durham would have been glad to see him restricted to just one scoring shot this time before he edged Gibson to slip. The prolific John Crawley (who had made 150 against Durham the previous season; Gibson two for 101 in 14 overs) was caught behind soon afterwards. Three more wickets fell before lunch which came with Gibson having taken five wickets for 31 in 12 overs, the fifth of which was the first of the two ducks that wicketkeeper Nic Pothas would make in the match. Suitably refreshed, Gibson then took three more, including captain Shane Warne, in five overs after the break. At 89 for eight the innings might have been over quickly but opener Michael Brown was still there and together with Championship debutant David Griffiths he took the score to 115, the second highest stand of the innings. Gibson had bowled 17 overs and probably needed a break, and that fortunately is what he got, rain at 2.40 pm driving the players off until 4.30. Again suitably rested, Gibson finished off Hampshire in just three balls: Griffiths giving wicketkeeper Phil Mustard his fourth catch and James Bruce losing his off stump first ball. Durham had a very good bowling attack and England’s Liam Plunkett and New Zealand off-spinner Paul Wiseman hadn’t even been needed (they would get their chance in the second innings). Gibson told The Guardian , Ottis Gibson