All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

54 Tom Richardson in 1880 and the famous Oval Ashes Test two years later. Surrey were in the midst of a good run that was to see them regain the Championship from Yorkshire. Essex on the other hand, in the words of Wisden , ‘had a most disastrous season’ and their only win was against a weakened Oxford University side. Richardson was a relative newcomer to the Surrey side. 1893 had been his first full season. It had been an impressive start with 174 first-class wickets, and he maintained this form in 1894 taking 91 wickets in just nine matches before the Essex match. With nine for 47 the previous season against Yorkshire he had already been close to an all-ten, but unfortunately the ninth wicket (George Hirst) fell to Bill Brockwell. By 1894 The Oval had become a major sporting venue, hosting many other sports outside summer, including rugby, hockey, lacrosse and particularly football. With one exception, every FA Cup Final until 1892 was played there by which time the attendance had reached 33,000. The match was clearly outgrowing the venue, but in any case the Committee decided that given the damage football caused to the turf it should be discontinued. Wisden commended groundsman Sam Apted for the condition of the ground which was now better than it had been for several years. ‘Upwards of £1,300’ had been spent on levelling and returfing the ground towards the Vauxhall End, one benefit of which had been an improvement in Surrey’s outfielding. It had rained overnight and the weather was still poor on a severely curtailed first day of the Essex match. One of the umpires was James Lillywhite who had taken all-ten at Canterbury 22 years before. Six of the Essex side were amateurs, whereas Surrey’s captain Digby Jephson was their only amateur. Some of the Essex side had their better days ahead of them. A much loved character, in 400 matches Charles McGahey would make some 19,000 runs for the county, and finish his days as Essex scorer. Opener Herbert Carpenter would eventually make 22 centuries for the county, the first of which would come against Surrey, Richardson et al, the following season. He came from good cricketing stock: his father Robert Carpenter had been one of umpire Lillywhite’s ten victims and his nephew Jack O’Connor would make nearly 28,000 runs for Essex. Wicketkeeper Thomas Russell also had cricket in his blood, relatives including son Jack (C.A.G.), the first Englishman to score two hundreds in a Test, and cousin Tich (Freeman), who would take three all-tens for Kent between the Wars, including one against Essex. Lucas won the toss and chose to bat. When rain stopped play at 1.15 with the score 55 for eight he might have wondered if he had made the right decision. Having taken eight for 32 from his 13 overs Richardson probably lunched happily. Although the wet conditions would have made the run up difficult for him, the soft pitch had probably given his off cutter more purchase and helped him hit the stumps six times so far, and induce Russell to play on. Play resumed at 3.25 and the 15 minutes that the weather allowed was just enough for Richardson to take the last two wickets, the final one being fellow fast bowler Charles Kortright who was well caught by Tom Hayward running in from third man. The Essex innings had been a procession lasting just an hour and a quarter,