All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

5 Foreword Richard Johnson: Middlesex, Somerset and England Ten for 45: Middlesex v Derbyshire, 1994 Strangely enough, as a 19-year-old, when I took all ten against Derbyshire I didn’t really appreciate then the significance of what I had achieved. It was only my eleventh first-class match, I hadn’t yet even taken a five-for and I was still trying to establish myself in the Middlesex side. I was just pleased to get among the wickets. My parents who were being updated with developments were I think quite excited however! ‘He’s got another one’. I don’t even think I bowled particularly well, and I’m sure that many bowlers who took an all-ten would say that they bowled much better on other occasions with less reward. My first over, to Kim Barnett, included two rank long hops. One went for four, one was caught at gully. At the end of the over I said to umpire Peter Willey that my bowling didn’t feel quite right. ‘Don’t worry’ he said. ‘You’ll probably get a five-for’. I settled down after that and by tea I had taken seven wickets. By now I was struggling a bit though. I was to have a knee operation later in the season and wondered if I could carry on. However, my opening partner Kevin Shine encouraged me to keep going, and I’m glad he did as a few overs later, having taken nine wickets, I was watching Devon Malcolm walk to the crease. Unfortunately I only had one ball left in the over. What should I bowl? I managed the perfect yorker but Devon dug it out and got down to the other end. With plenty of time left Mike Gatting then did his best to help me get my all-ten by bringing on Desmond Haynes to trundle for a couple of overs and, despite some scares, I eventually picked up Matthew Taylor, probably to the best ball I bowled in the innings. After that my career was a combination of success and injury. Although I was injured quite often I don’t look back on my career with regret. I am very pleased to have achieved what I did. All-tens have become very uncommon. The only one in England since mine has been Ottis Gibson’s in 2007, and the last one abroad was by Zulfiqar Babar in December 2009. As a bowler I would quite like to see another one achieved, although ideally not against Middlesex or England!