Famous Cricketers No 91 - J.C.Laker

not out 6 336 2 0 11 0 76-0 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Test matches 4 7 1 109 55 18.16 - 1 1 Other matches 4 5 1 103 41 25.75 - - 3 Tour 8 12 2 212 55 21.20 - 1 4 Career 29 41 7 623 60 18.32 - 2 18 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Strike RunR Test matches 186.4 48 548 18 7/103 30.44 1 - 62.22 48.92 Other matches 202.1 69 425 18 5/74 23.61 2 - 67.38 35.03 Tour 388.5 117 973 36 7/103 27.02 3 - 64.80 41.70 Career 1024.4 264 2562 123 8/69 20.82 8 - 49.98 41.67 1948 Laker took one hundred wickets in a season for the first time in 1948 but his wickets came at the relatively high cost of 27.91 each. He played in three of the Tests against Bradman’s unbeaten Australian side. At Trent Bridge in the first Test he went into bat with the scoreboard reading 74 for eight. He rescued the position to some extent by top-scoring with an innings of 63 after which he took the first three Australian wickets to fall, those of S.G.Barnes, A.R.Morris and K.R.Miller. That was the high point of the series for him. The low point came at Headingley in the fourth Test when, on a pitch taking spin he bowled badly, taking none for 93 off 32 overs as Australia scored 404 for 3 to win the match. To complete a bad day he also dropped Morris. Laker fared no better in other games against the tourists. On the second morning of the MCC match against them at Lord’s, the Australians hit him for nine 6’s, and at Scarborough for Leveson-Gower’s XI he took one for 95 off 20 overs. He did much better in the Championship taking 74 wickets at 22.51 including his best figures to date, eight for 55 against Gloucestershire at Kennington Oval. As a batsman he hit 828 runs in all matches with three fifties including a 99 (run out) against Kent at Kennington Oval. His average was 24.35. He held sixteen catches. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 30. MCC v Yorkshire, Lord’s, May 1, 3 (MCC won by nine wickets) c J.H.Wardle b E.P.Robinson 4 168 8.4 1 39 3 R.Aspinall b 111 A.B.Sellers b E.P.Robinson c C.J.Barnett did not bat - 44-1 20 6 27 3 W.Watson c G.O.Dawkes 99 T.F.Smailes b R.Aspinall c W.Wooller 31. Surrey v MCC, Lord’s, May 5, 6, 7 (MCC won by 94 runs) b J.H.G.Deighton 1 278 29 6 60 4 S.M.Brown b 225 D.C.S.Compton lbw B.H.Valentine c J.W.J.McMahon A.E.G.Rhodes c L.B.Fishlock lbw b D.C.S.Compton 4 236 22 3 62 0 383 1 32. Surrey v Australians, Kennington Oval, May 8, 10, 11 (Australians won by an innings and 296 runs) b D.T.Ring 9 141 37 4 137 1 W.A.Johnston lbw 632 c I.W.G.Johnson b W.A.Johnston 20 195 33. Surrey v Nottinghamshire, Trent Bridge, May 15, 17, 18 (Nottinghamshire won by four wickets) c F.H.Winrow b W.A.Sime 40 419 37 11 105 1 A.Jepson b 420-9d not out 3 266-8d 14.4 0 82 2 W.W.Keeton c and b 266-6 1 C.B.Harris lbw 34. Surrey v Leicestershire, Leicester, May 19, 20, 21 (Surrey won by five wickets) did not bat - 499-6d 24.2 7 69 3 G.S.Watson c L.B.Fishlock 283 1 J.E.Walsh b P.Corrall c E.A.Watts 10