Name:

Laker, James C

Nickname:

Jim

Date of Birth:

09-02-1922

Place of Birth:

Frizinghall, Bradford

Career:

Test: 1948 - 1959
First Class: 1946 - 1964

Teams:

England (Country)
Surrey (Regional)

1956 Ashes Series: Australia bowled Laker

Jim Laker: Offspinning genius who took all ten wickets in an innings

Born : 9 February 1922 at Frizinghall, Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Died : 23 April 1986 at Putney, London, England

Jim Laker was an off-spinner who generated great turn and bowled with relentless accuracy.

He was most famous for his extraordinary world record match figures of 19-90 (9-37 and 10-53) in the Test against Australia at Manchester in 1956. Tony Lock took the other wicket in the match. No one has yet to take even 18 wickets in a first class match so this incredible record of Laker's is bound to last a long time.

Laker and left-arm spinner Lock formed one of the best spin-bowling combinations in English cricket history. They played for years together for both England and a highly successful Surrey team. In that 1956 series he took 46 wickets at an average of 9.60.

Laker ended his career with a total of 193 Test wickets at an average of 21.24 in his 46 Tests. To this date no-one has taken more Test wickets for England at a better average.

In all first-class cricket he took 1,944 wickets at 18.40. He was also a useful lower-order batsman who scored two first-class centuries and 7,298 runs at 16.66.

After retirement, Laker became a popular TV commentator with the BBC, wrote several notable cricket books and worked with Surrey County as an administrator.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter