9. Jim Laker’s 19 wickets in a match:
19 for 90 what a stat it is to have under your belt? That was Jim Laker’s astonishing match return against Australia in the Old Trafford Ashes Test of 1956. On a helpful pitch, the real wonder was that Tony Lock, Laker’s left-arm spinning partner, could not manage more than one wicket.
Again, it’s theoretically possible that someone could beat Laker’s figures, but in more than half a century and 1500 Test matches since, no one has taken more than 16 – and no one has seriously threatened it in first-class cricket either – so it seems a pretty safe bet that Laker will sit forever atop that particular bowling table.