All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

53 Tom Richardson Surrey v Essex, 1894 Kennington Oval, Kennington on 18, 19, 20 June 1894 (3-day match) Toss won by Essex Surrey won by an innings and 261 runs Umpires: J Lillywhite, RA Thoms Essex 72 (T Richardson 10-45) and 105 (T Richardson 5-50); Surrey 438 (W Brockwell 108) Essex first innings J Burns c Marshall b Richardson 9 HA Carpenter b Richardson 0 HGP Owen b Richardson 5 H Hailey b Richardson 3 RJ Burrell b Richardson 31 +TM Russell b Richardson 0 CP McGahey b Richardson 1 *AP Lucas b Richardson 5 CJ Kortright c Hayward b Richardson 5 W Mead b Richardson 11 H Pickett not out 1 Extras (lb 1) 1 Total (all out, 30.3 overs) 72 Fall of wickets 1-0, 2-13, 3-14, 4-27, 5-33, 6-47, 7-54, 8-55, 9-67, 10-72 Surrey bowling : T Richardson 15.3-3-45-10, FE Smith 13-4-22-0, AE Street 2-0-4-0 Surrey: R Abel, JM Read, TW Hayward, W Brockwell, DLA Jephson, R Henderson, AE Street, GW Ayres, FE Smith, C Marshall (wk), T Richardson Born in Byfleet, Surrey in 1870 of Romany stock, and learning his cricket on Mitcham’s famous Common, Tom Richardson was England’s first great fast bowler. He took 2,104 first-class wickets, many of them on shirtfront Oval pitches, and with only one ball available per innings. Over six feet tall, with a good physique, his strengths were great stamina, relentless accuracy and the ability to bring the ball back sharply from the off. He kept the ball up, never trying to intimidate. Early in his career there had been concerns about the fairness of his action. Fortunately, if he did throw, the problem seems to have been remedied quickly. How fast was he? Contemporaries Clem Hill, the great Australian batsman, and Richardson’s Surrey bowling partner Bill Lockwood both saw Harold Larwood bowl and thought the Surrey man quicker. Maybe they were being unduly loyal to the past, but Richardson was clearly fairly swift. Surrey were the team of the 1890s, winning the Championship six times, whilst Essex had only been granted first-class status for the first time in 1894 and their matches did not count for the Championship until the following year. They were captained by ex-Surrey batsman Alfred ‘Bunny’ Lucas who played five Tests including the first one in England at The Oval