| In what is generally a batsman's game, the highlight | | | | being particularly effective with the new ball. After |
| for a bowler might be taking five wickets in an inning | | | | England posted a competitive total, Barnes set about |
| or ten wickets in a match. However, on a rare | | | | the Africans again, taking 9/103 off 38.4 overs to |
| occasion, one bowler might dominate the opposing | | | | help England to an innings and 12-run victory over the |
| batsman to the extent that he takes nearly all the | | | | home side. |
| opposition's wickets. In more than 133 years of Test | | | | Narendra Hirwani (India) - 16/136 against West Indies |
| cricket, no bowler has ever taken all 20 wickets in a | | | | at Chennai (January 1988) |
| Test, although Englishman Jim Laker and Indian Anil | | | | Against the dominant West Indies, India's leg-spinner |
| Kumble took ten wickets in an inning. Unsurprisingly, | | | | bowled exceptionally on a spin-friendly track to |
| Laker heads the list for the best overall bowling | | | | defeat the unofficial world champions. Hirwani spun a |
| figures in a Test match. | | | | web around the visitors in the first innings to take 8 |
| Jim Laker (England) - 19/90 against Australia at | | | | 61 off 18.3 overs. In the second innings, the |
| Manchester (July 1956) | | | | leg-spinner conceded more runs but needed fewer |
| Jim Laker's record-breaking feat occurred when he | | | | overs to scalp 8/75 off 15.2 overs. India managed a |
| took all ten wickets in an innings. In the first innings | | | | comprehensive 255-run win on account of Hirwani's |
| of the Ashes Test, Laker's 9/37 spun out Australia | | | | performance. |
| for 84. Australia followed on against their archrivals | | | | Bob Massie (Australia) - 16/137 against England at |
| but only fared marginally better against the | | | | Lord's (June 1972) |
| Englishman's offspin. Laker took 10/53 in the second | | | | With the home of cricket as his stage, medium-fast |
| innings of the Test as England won by an innings and | | | | bowler Bob Massie turned in a fine Ashes |
| 170 runs. | | | | performance to lead Australia to an eight-wicket |
| Sydney Barnes (England) - 17/159 against South | | | | victory over England. In the first innings, Massie |
| Africa at Johannesburg (December 1913) | | | | dismissed the redoubtable Geoff Boycott before |
| As far back as 1913, Sydney Barnes wrecked South | | | | scything through the English middle order. He took 8 |
| Africa on their own turf to possess what was then | | | | 84 in the first innings and followed up with 8/53 in |
| the best match bowling figures. The fast bowler took | | | | the second. Dennis Lillee took the four wickets that |
| 8/56 off 26.5 overs in South Africa's first innings, | | | | Massie did not manage to scalp. |