<P> It then seemed as if the match was doomed to be ruined by the weather as only 47 minutes of play was possible on the Saturday and only an hour on the Monday . During that time, Australia lost Burke to Laker and reached 84 for two with McDonald (who returned when Burke was out) and Craig batting . On Tuesday, the final day, conditions improved and play began only ten minutes late . McDonald did his best and put up a strong defence, eventually scoring 89 . Craig, who made 38, stayed with him until lunch when the score was 112 for two . With four hours left, there seemed to be a reasonable chance that Australia would escape with a draw . The morning had been cloudy, however, and the sun began to shine as lunch was taken . This caused the ball to spin quickly and create increased problems for the batsmen . During the afternoon session, Laker took four wickets in nine overs for three runs but then Richie Benaud joined McDonald and they stayed together for 75 minutes to the tea interval . The pitch was taking prodigious spin after tea and Australia's hopes faded when Laker dismissed McDonald with the second ball of the evening session . At 17: 27, with just over an hour to go, Laker bowled to Len Maddocks and appealed for leg before wicket . Maddocks was given out and Laker had taken all ten wickets for 53 runs to give England victory . </P> <P> Wisden pointed out that the rain returned on Tuesday night and, on the Wednesday, the entire first - class programme was washed out . Wisden commented that "it can be seen how close was England's time margin, and how the greatest bowling feat of all time nearly did not happen". Writing in 2005, Richie Benaud recalled that there was rain in the Old Trafford area on the final day itself but it did not fall at the venue . Benaud was so impressed by Laker that he decided to shorten his own run - up and, he said, "my bowling attitude". In its match report, Playfair said that Laker "had enjoyed one of the most remarkable bowling performances that has ever been seen on a cricket field". </P> <P> Laker's ten for 53 was the first time a bowler had taken all ten wickets in a test innings . The only other bowler to achieve the feat is India's Anil Kumble, who took ten for 74 at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla against Pakistan in 1999 . Having already taken nine for 37 in the first innings, Laker's match bowling figures of nineteen for 90 remain a world record in first - class cricket . The record for the most wickets taken in a test match was previously held by England's Sydney Barnes who took seventeen for 159 at the Old Wanderers, in Johannesburg, against South Africa in December 1913 . Barnes remains the only bowler other than Laker to take seventeen in a test match . Two common factors link Laker and Barnes . They are the only two bowlers who have taken seventeen or more wickets in a test match and they both played for Saltaire in the Bradford League, Barnes from 1915 to 1923, Laker from 1938 to 1940 . Laker remains the only bowler to have taken more than seventeen wickets in a first - class match . There had been twenty previous instances of seventeen in a match but, since Laker's feat, only John Davison of Canada in 2004 has taken seventeen wickets in a match . </P> <P> Laker toured South Africa with MCC in 1956 / 57, playing in fourteen matches including all five tests . He took fifty wickets, which was his career - best tally in an overseas season . He played in four tests against West Indies in 1957 and four against New Zealand in 1958 . </P>

Bowlers who took 10 wickets in an innings
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