All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

269 ‘I’ve been around long enough to know that when it’s your day you must make the most of it, but I got lucky today. Before I got Lumb I’d said to Benky it wasn’t swinging any more, and then before the rain came I was going to come off. Even then I would have settled for eight, but Benky said at my age I wouldn’t get another opportunity to get ten.’ Gibson’s all-ten was only the third in the Championship in the previous fifty years. He was the first bowler to take an all-ten for Durham since they achieved first-class status in 1992, and in fact only the second to have taken as many as nine in an innings for them, Melvyn Betts being the first (although medium pacer Alf Morris took all-ten for 130 in a Minor Counties match against Yorkshire Seconds at Barnsley in 1910). Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth have since both taken nine for the county. In each case, taking the first eight wickets, they came tantalisingly close to a full house. Gibson is also only the sixth bowler to take an all-ten in his last first-class season. At the other end, Michael Brown became only the third batsman to carry his bat whilst his colleagues succumbed to an all-ten. Conditions having eased when Durham batted a second time, a declaration left Hampshire 75 overs to make an unlikely 359. Gibson once more struck early, again picking up Michael Carberry and John Crawley cheaply. After that it was Wiseman who did the damage; when he took his fifth wicket 20 minutes were left to part last man Griffiths and the again undefeated Brown. The pair held out however, although Gibson almost had Brown caught at gully with three overs to go. Michael Brown (126 not out) had nearly become the eleventh batsman to bat through both completed innings of a first-class match. As Durham would eventually finish second in the Championship, 4.5 points behind Sussex, the ten extra points for a win would have been very useful! Durham went one better with the white ball that season, winning their first-ever prize, the Friends Provident Trophy, beating Hampshire at a damp Lord’s by 125 runs. Gibson again made Hampshire suffer. After hitting 15 from seven balls at the end of the Durham innings he dismissed Michael Lumb and Sean Ervine with the first two balls of the Hampshire innings: both left-handers were caught at second slip. As he pinned Kevin Pietersen in front soon afterwards it was no wonder he was made Man of the Match. He had been equally influential in a remarkably low-scoring semi-final against Essex, taking three good wickets and then, with the score 38 for seven chasing just 72, holding an end while Liam Plunkett (30 not out) saw Durham home. After Lord’s Gibson took 32 Championship wickets in four matches. An impressive end to his season and career. Gibson had already spent time as an ECB coach and when the opportunity arose to become England’s bowling coach in the winter of 2007 he took it. At the beginning of 2010, after more than two years with England, he became coach to the West Indies, a side for whom he had played two Tests and 15 ODIs in the late 1990s. The highlight of his tenure was winning the World T20 in Sri Lanka in 2012. But there were also low points and the parting of the ways came in August 2014. However ‘when one door closes…’, and in 2015 he was back as England’s bowling coach and now has a CV that includes ‘Ashes winner’. Ottis Gibson