Test cricket is a form of the sport that requires patience, resilience and a hell of a lot of skill. Bowlers especially must persevere and have enough character to continue trying to get wickets, even if they have been smashed around the park. In test cricket there is usually time to come back and show what you are made of. The game does go on for five days after all!
Many bowlers have proved their considerable worth at test level, but the top three performances, as rated by Wisden cricket reference book, are:
3) Jim Laker, 10/53 vs Australia, 1956
Jim Laker is a legendary English cricketer and much of his fame is due to his figures against Austrlia at Old Trafford in the 1956 Ashes series. In this test he took an incredible 19 wickets, and 10 of those in the second innings for a mere 53 runs. That’s quite special.
2) Anil Kumble, 10/74 vs Pakistan, 1999
Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble wowed a Delhi crowd in 1998 in a test series against Pakistan. In this match he demolished every batsman in the Pakistani team, making him the only other bowler to get 10 wickets in a test match, along with Jim Laker.
1) Hugh Tayfield, 9/113 vs England, 1956
The South African off-spinner was famously accurate and set a record in this test match in Johannesburg by bowling 137 consecutive balls without conceding a single run. He went on to take nine English wickets for 113 runs in the second innings, following his nine wicket haul in the first innings. This is one of the cricket tours that England fans like to forget.
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