All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

68 Johnny Briggs Lancashire v Worcestershire, 1900 County Championship Old Trafford, Manchester 24, 25, 26 May 1900 (3-day match) Toss won by Worcestershire Lancashire won by five wickets Umpires: A White, W Wright Worcestershire 106 (J Briggs 10-55) and 253 (HK Foster 113); Lancashire 205 (GA Wilson 6-63) and 156-5 Worcestershire first innings *HK Foster b Briggs 0 FL Bowley c Eccles b Briggs 5 EG Arnold c MacLaren b Briggs 1 GF Wheldon c Radcliffe b Briggs 25 WH Hill b Briggs 12 AW Isaac c MacLaren b Briggs 3 A Bird b Briggs 32 GA Wilson lbw b Briggs 0 RD Burrows b Briggs 17 AF Bannister c MacLaren b Briggs 0 +T Straw not out 7 Extras (b 3, lb 1) 4 Total (all out, 57.5 overs) 106 Fall of wickets 1-4, 2-6, 3-6, 4-36, 5-44, 6-46, 7-46, 8-70, 9-74, 10-106 Lancashire bowling : AW Hallam 10-5-16-0, J Briggs 28.5-7-55-10, WR Cuttell 9-3-14-0, AW Mold 10-3-17-0 Lancashire: AC MacLaren (capt), A Ward, JT Tyldesley, CR Hartley, WR Cuttell, J Briggs, A Eccles, JS Sharp, AW Hallam, L Radcliffe (wk), AW Mold Johnny Briggs had been playing first-class cricket for 21 years before he finally took an all-ten. Sadly, 1900 was to be his last season: just over a year and a half later he died at the age of 39. He had taken 2,221 wickets in first-class cricket (a total exceeded at the time only by W.G.Grace) including 118 in Tests. Just 5ft 5ins tall, Briggs was an inventive, hardworking slow left-arm bowler with an easy action. He bowled off a very short run-up, and could get through an over in less than a minute. (Bowlers at the other end might not have always appreciated such haste.) A popular and enthusiastic cricketer, Briggs was the first bowler to take 100 Test wickets, a feat he achieved at Sydney in February 1895, just beating Australia’s Charles Turner to the target in the same match. He played twice against South Africa in 1888/89, not a strong team, but somebody had to get them out, and in the Second Test at Cape Town he took 15 wickets for 28. He hardly needed any fielders: 14 of his victims were bowled and one lbw. His batting never reached the heights of his bowling, but he was good for over 500 runs most years, made a Test century, and in 1885, just two days after his wedding, made 186 against Surrey at Liverpool, putting on a then- world record 173 for the last wicket with Dick Pilling.