All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

55 Richardson bowling unchanged for his ten for 45, a county record which stood until 1921. The only batsman who provided any resistance was John Burrell who scored 31 in three quarters of an hour before losing his middle stump with the score 54 for seven. This was 23-year-old Burrell’s second first- class match and his performance hinted at a promising career. However, it was not to be: ten matches would produce just 200 runs. Surrey, starting their innings in better conditions the next day, passed the Essex total before losing a wicket and, led by Bill Brockwell with 108, rattled up 438. This was a good performance against a decent Essex attack: Charles Kortright was thought to be the fastest bowler of his day, and by some as the fastest ever; only four bowlers have beaten Walter Mead’s 1,472 wickets for the county; and Harry Pickett was to take his own all-ten the following season (although perhaps surprisingly he only bowled 14 out of 164 overs in the Surrey innings). Essex didn’t do much better second time around, Richardson taking another five wickets to finish with match figures of 15 for 95. This was the first of five times that Richardson took fifteen wickets in a match, a number unequalled by any fast bowler, and exceeded by few of any pace. Top-scorer this time was Kortright whose 34 included a few lusty hits against the lobs of Digby Jephson, before Richardson had him caught in the deep by Maurice Read. 1894 was the start of an astonishing run that saw Richardson take 1,005 wickets in four successive home seasons. He also had a short, but brilliant, Test career: in only 14 matches, all against Australia, he took 88 wickets at 25.22 apiece. He averaged a wicket every 51 balls. To put this into perspective, playing in the next decade, the great Sidney Barnes’ strike rate against Australia was 54. Unfortunately because of overwork some of Richardson’s fire and stamina had left him by the end of the decade. He was a very good bowler for a few years, but no longer a great one, and after a few matches at the beginning of 1904 he slipped quietly out of the side. His 1,775 wickets for Surrey has never been exceeded. He became a publican in Kingston, and then in Bath. He had been offered the chance of qualifying for Somerset but played for them just once, unsuccessfully, against the 1905 Australians and the West Country venture fell through. Returning to Surrey in 1907 he became a publican on Richmond Green. At the end of June 1912 he travelled to France for a short holiday. He collapsed and died there suddenly on 2 July while climbing a rocky path. Earlier suggestions that he committed suicide have been proved unfounded. The Gentlemen v Players match at The Oval was suspended for 20 minutes on the afternoon of his funeral. Tom Richardson