Cricket at Old Blighty: Top five bowling spells witnessed in Manchester across formats

The Old Trafford stadium, situated to the south of Manchester's city centre, has been hosting fierce cricket contests for generations now. The third home of Lancashire County Cricket Club, the stadium is often confused with its name double, the other Old Trafford which is more famous these days - as the home of soccer giants Manchester United.

Cricket was first played in the ground in the 1850s with the LCCC playing its home games of the season there. International Test cricket came to the venue in 1884, and since then, the stadium has had its rich share of history. Ever-famous for the records that we have seen springing from the pitch here, such as the 254 runs that came off Joe Root's bat in 2016, and the ten-wicket haul of Jim Laker in a single innings against Australia, back in 1956.

Australia were the victims again in 1981 when Ian Botham lit up a dreary and dull day by clearing Dennis Lillee to the ropes over and over again, and in 1995 Dominic Cork made sure that anyone having a lazy day were shaken violently with that hat-trick against Windies right at the start of a game. In 1999, over 22,000 watched Pakistan against India in the World Cup in the same venue as Tendulkar put up a virtuoso performance against the eventual runners-up.

Despite being one of the oldest cricketing venues around, the stadium still continues to host games, as it would do so once again on July 3rd, as India face off hosts England as part of a 3-match T20I series. The game at Old Trafford will be the opener in a two-month long bilateral series that covers all formats of the game.

Before we go at it, let us take a look at some of the best bowling spells that the "Old Blighty" has ever witnessed.

---

#1. J.C. Laker, 9/37 and 10/53 against Australia, 31 July 1956

Jim Laker Bowling

Nearly sixty-two years ago, one of Test cricket's greatest individual achievements was completed. On 31st July 1956, the England off-spinner Jim Laker walked off the Old Trafford having taken all of the ten wickets that fell in the fourth innings.

In the second innings, he had taken all but one wicket, thereby ending the game with nineteen out of the possible twenty wickets! It is still the record not only in Test matches but also in first-class cricket.

To this day, no one has been able to repeat the feat, as Jim Laker stands super-tall in the list of best bowling figures across an entire game. Courtesy of Jim's efforts, England won the game by an innings and 170 runs, and who else could have been the man of the match.

In the second innings, Jim's figures read 16.4 - 4 - 37 - 9, while in the fourth it was 51.2 - 23 - 53 -10, which becomes 68 - 27 - 90 - 19. Let the enormity of those bowling figures sink in.

#2. Malcolm Marshall, 7/22 vs England, 30 June 1988

Malcolm Marshall bowling

The 1100th Test cricket match in history was held at Old Trafford and the hosts faced in-form Windies. An inspired performance from Courtney Walsh, who scalped four wickets, resulted in the English crumbling for just 135. In return the Windies declared at 384 for 7, putting the English to bat again.

If Walsh's game was inspiring, one would be short of words to describe what followed. Malcolm Marshall literally ran through the English batting setup, prising 7 wickets as nine of eleven Englishmen scored less than 10. The innings eventually folded at 93, as Marshall's figures read 15.4 - 5 - 22 - 7. The Windies won the game by an innings and 156 runs.

#3. S.J. Harmison, 6/19 and 5/57 vs Pakistan, 27 July 2006

Steve Harmison coming in to launch one of his missiles

I remember being a young kid and glued to the TV set whenever India used to play cricket. Of the bowlers that have instilled fear in me, Steve Harmison was a constant presence. The man somehow used to give me the chills, what with his heavy run-ins and mighty hurls at the batsman and all. So, whenever India used to play England, I used to watch out if this man was playing against us. If he did, I was nearly sure to have a tough day ahead.

The same man did quite the extraordinary, on a summer day at Old Trafford, back in 2006. The only good thing was that he was not playing India, it was Pakistan who were facing his missiles for once. And they had a tough few days ahead of them.

Put to bat first, Pakistan fell for 119 runs courtesy of Steve's figures of 13 - 7 - 19 - 6, and followed it up with 18.1 - 3 - 57 - 5 as Pakistan crumbled at 222, unable to overtake the English first innings' total even together with both innings.

England won by an innings and 120 runs, having scored 461 for 9 when they batted. Steve was adjudged the best player with collective figures of 31.1 - 10 - 76 - 11.

#4. Glenn McGrath, 5/14 vs West Indies, 30 May 1999

Glenn McGrath

Australia were the world champions in 1999, and few would say that the efforts of Glenn McGrath did not play a role in the victory. The pacer had a good run in the whole tournament, but the best of them all came in the group match against the Windies, the 28th match of the World Cup.

Winning the toss, Australia chose to field, and within a couple of hours, it was evident why the choice was made. R.D. Jacobs at 49 not out, remained the sole performer of the Windies innings as they folded for a mere 110.

McGrath was the chief troublemaker, as he ran through the top order, scalping four wickets including that of Brian Lara. He later came back and cleaned up at the end of the innings, picking one more.

He ended with figures of 8.4 - 3 14 - 5, as the Aussies came back and won the game, chasing the target with nearly ten overs and six wickets remaining.

#5. Andrew Symonds, 5/18 vs Bangladesh, 25 June 2005

Symonds celebrates his fifer

The Natwest Series of 2005 showed us the rise of a unique player - Andrew Symonds. For us millennials, there will never be a player who was quite the thug-life as Symonds.

A maverick in the true nature of the term, Symonds was at his best on that June afternoon when he dismantled an already-weak Bangladeshi batting attack, returning with figures of 7.2 - 1 - 18 - 5 as Bangladesh fell out for 139. Gilchrist and Hayden scored 66 apiece as they then took the Kangaroos home without any loss.

The game also marked the beginning of Symonds' presence in the squad as a valuable all-rounder for the Aussies.