All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

31 James Lillywhite Lancashire, the 1878 Australian tourists, and Scotland (non-first-class). Thornton then held another good catch in the deep to dispose of Carpenter who had hit well on the leg side, and after that apart from Tom Emmett nobody contributed significantly as Lillywhite gained further reward for his persistence. When stumps were drawn at 7 o’clock the score was 313 for nine. Having made 444 runs for the loss of 19 wickets the teams had certainly made up for the lost first day. Lillywhite would have had to wonder overnight whether he would get all ten. He had previously taken nine wickets in an innings twice. On the second occasion, against Kent in 1863, the other wicket had fallen to a run-out. He would have been heartened by the fact that one of the not out batsmen was Nottinghamshire’s J.C. (Jemmy) Shaw, one of the finest bowlers of the period, but also one of the very worst batsmen. He had to wait a little longer next morning as rain prevented play until quarter to twelve, but Shaw didn’t disappoint, soon hitting a catch to Isaac Walker at mid off from the second ball of Lillywhite’s 61st over. Six bowlers, including Willsher and Grace (4,138 first class wickets between them), had sent down 113 wicketless (4-ball) overs at the other end. As Grace had turned up late, made a ‘badly played’ 15, bowled without success and dropped two catches Wisden wasn’t impressed: [he was] ‘quite out of form in bowling, batting, and fielding’. The South batted little better in their second innings, the left-arm fast pair Shaw and Morley sharing eight wickets. Lillywhite top scored for the South with 29 not out - although perhaps he might not have done if WG had batted, but the great man had left early to travel with the team that the MCC secretary R.A.Fitzgerald was taking to North America. South’s innings, and the match, ended at 3.40 pm. Fortunately for the sizeable crowd a fresh wicket was soon prepared, and by 4.20 another contest was under way: a 12-a-side, but first-class, match between Gentlemen of MCC and Kent. Five players appeared in both games (not including Lillywhite), with Thornton and Willsher managing to be dismissed twice on the same day playing in different matches. As well as playing, Lillywhite was always looking for other professional opportunities. He coached, became secretary of the United South of England XI, umpired in 247 first-class matches, was agent for the 1878 and 1880 Australian tourists, and with the Nottinghamshire pair Alfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury jointly promoted four tours to Australia in the 1880s, not always to his financial benefit. And of course the name Lillywhite lived on because of the famous sports goods business, James taking on the London business started by his cousin John. He was also a licensee in Chichester. He had his financial ups and downs but around the turn of the century things improved, and until his death he was receiving a comfortable investment income. James Lillywhite continued to live in Sussex until his death in 1929. Aged 87, he outlived all the members of that first English Test team, most of whom had not even survived into the 20th century.