All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

40 George Giffen Only one was in England, but it was the celebrated Oval Test of 1882 and without his second innings contribution in a low-scoring match Australia would never have won a famous victory. Sammy Jones made only ten this time caught and bowled by Giffen, perhaps a victim of that wicked slower ball. Last man out, Kent-born Thomas Nunn, was a bit of a makeweight. Batting eleven and not bowling he had an undistinguished five-match career. Two of Giffen’s victims, Garrett and Spofforth, had also been part of Ted Barrett’s full house in 1878. The Australian XI duly reached their simple target. Perhaps in order to give him the honour of scoring the winning run Giffen was sent in to open. If so the plan failed because he was bowled by Spofforth for just 2, which was at least an improvement on his first innings one. Given the conditions Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game regretted that each side did not have a fresh wicket to bat on. At the time the Laws allowed for this after rain (both sides agreeing) and they were about to be amended to allow a change if the pitch became unfit. Captains have rarely availed themselves of this opportunity. Giffen would go on to take nine wickets in an innings four times. The closest he came to turning nine into another ten was two years later at the County Ground, Derby, when he dismissed the first eight Derbyshire batsmen before the penultimate wicket fell to a run-out. Giffen eventually toured England five times, achieving the 1,000 run/100 wicket double three times. Signing off his Test career in 1896 having become the first to complete the corresponding Test double, he was then the current highest wicket-taker in England – Australia Tests and Australia’s highest run-scorer. At State level, South Australia relied heavily on Giffen, and he didn’t let them down. By the time he had played his last match for them he was their leading run-scorer and their leading wicket- taker, his allround performances continuing to attest to his great skill and stamina. He played first-class cricket until his mid-40s and even in 1903, aged 44, scored 81 and 97 not out and took 15 wickets against Victoria at Adelaide. Did this Superman have any faults? Well, he wasn’t a very good captain, mainly because he kept himself on too long. Two of the six instances of Australians bowling over 500 balls in an innings involve Giffen as both bowler and captain. However he was often the best bowler in the side, and when he set the then record for the most balls bowled in a Test match (708 in 1894/95) he wasn’t captain. When he finally gave up playing he still contributed to the game by coaching local boys. In 1925, after 43 years service, he retired from the GPO. Apparently he used to fret about promotion opportunities lost because of time spent away playing cricket. Sadly he did not live long to enjoy his pension, dying in November 1927. A grandstand at the Adelaide Oval was named after him. Most of it has disappeared following redevelopments, but a life-size bronze statue of him now stands at the ground.