Best Ashes Bowling Peformance

Not from cricinfo, but following on from the most memorable ashes innings, what would you rate as the best ashes bowling performance?

Some from memory and before my time, include:

Lakers 19 wickets

Massie's 16 wickets

Ellison's 10 wickets at Edgbaston.

McGrath's 8-38 at Lords

And there's more!

Struggling with this from memory. As wickets tend to be shared around harder to remember than a batsman's innings.

One that does spring to mind:

Broad at the Oval in 2009 - a devastating and match winning spell

Not sure if you could count it as a spell as such, but Flintoff's over to ponting at edgbaston in the 05 ashes is probably the best bit of bowling i've ever seen. You also have the five wickets he took at Lords in the 09 Ashes. I don't think he bowled a bad ball in that spell. I'm far to young to have seen it but Bob Willis's 8 for 43 at headingley in the 81 ashes must also be up there?

Willis at Headingley. How did I forget that.

Fred Trueman switching to off-cutters to skittle the Aussies at Leeds in 1961.
Ray Lindwall bowling England out for 52 at The Oval in 1948
Derek Underwood exploiting a last-afternoon sticky to win the match at a sawdust-covered Oval in 1968
Botham's 5 for 1 finish at Birmingham in 1981

Larwood throughout Bodyline?

Going on my own lifetime, the one which had me most in awe was McGrath's spell on day 1 at Lords, 2005, just after tea. From ten without loss he skittled us down to 21-5 with some of the most immaculate bowling you will ever see (I'm sure most can remember it, anyway).

It's telling, I think, that the two test matches that England won in that series were the two which McGrath missed. After that series he was never quite the same - he was a bit long in the tooth, increasingly injury-prone and struggled against the Saffers if I recall a few months later, so to have that one final chance to see him in full flow and at the very end of his glorious peak was a treat, even for an Englishman.

Sir Fred - although before my time, pleased to see an honourable mention to Ray Lindwall.
Can I ask if you have any memories of Frank Tyson? He was slightly before my (cricket watching) time and sadly the ''Typhoon'' seemed to blow out all too quickly. However, I vividly recall trusted elders raving about his speed.

Three here for me.

From my own time of tv watching and radio listening (just!), Underwood at the Oval in '68 stands out. Probably embellished by stories that have grown up around his deeds but the background still sounds so wonderful - men putting down their coats to mop up the sodden outfield whilst old ladies dug tiny holes in the ground with their knitting needles to ensure some play and just enough time for Underwood was possible.

Fast forward to '72 and Massie's match. His 8 wickets in each innings through unseen before (at least by me) massive swing on debut was a thrill to behold even if it was for the opposition. Massie's feat was probably all the more remarkable as he never came close to repeating it. More than half his total number of Test wickets were taken in that one match. He only played 5 more Tests and within eighteen months of that Lord's match was pretty much finished due to injury and loss of form. [Fists - when the late, great Windy once strayed from the boxing threads and encountered such stick for associating with the cucumber sandwich eaters, it was to ask about Massie who had made an everlasting impression upon him.]

Then - as well covered - Willis in '81.

The above are ones that tick the personally memorable boxes. As for the best, I think it's fair for once to hide behind the stats and say it has to be Laker with his 19 at Old Trafford in '56.

Tyson was ever so slightly before my time, but my brother used to impersonate him in the back garden. His 1954/55 tour back-to-back match-winning efforts (Tyson's, not my brother's) aided by the admirable Statham, must have been something. People who played with him and against him said he was REALLY quick.

Willis' 8/43 was described by Dennis Lillee as the best spell of fast bowling he ever saw. Pretty decent praise that.
How about Benaud's 6/70 to win the Old Trafford test at Manchester in 1961 or, and I can't believe it hasn't been mentioned yet, Spofforth's 7/44 at the Oval 1882.

sirfredperry wrote:Tyson was ever so slightly before my time, but my brother used to impersonate him in the back garden. His 1954/55 tour back-to-back match-winning efforts (Tyson's, not my brother's) aided by the admirable Statham, must have been something. People who played with him and against him said he was REALLY quick.

Thanks, Sir Fred.

Liked your reference to ''the admirable Statham''. After some debate, he was admitted to the 606v2 Cricketing Hall of Fame a few months back - particularly for his splendid support to Tyson and Trueman.

I've recently been trying to introduce the adjective ''Stathamesque'' on the Surrey Supporters' Club website. Apparently modelling himself on Statham's catchphrase ''If they miss, I hit'', Surrey have a young fast bowler coming through the ranks by the name of Tom (son of the late Kevin) Curran. He's taken 10 wickets in his last two games (first and second XI), of which 5 have been bowled, 4 lbw and the other caught behind.

The one that made greatest impression on me was Massie - he demolished England twice in the same match. He got prodigious amount of swing and in that match he was completely unplayable.

My world of cricket does not include my view of cricket. Though I have mostly witnessed Brett Lee's devastating speed or McGrath's accuracy or Anderson excellence but looking back before my birth gaining the image of some of world's fierce bowlers which include the Great WI line up still, taking out a win from the jaws of defeat, when your opposition seems acting like a tiger is real game. I feel Bob Willis' 8 wickets against the mighty Australians just doing what is close to impossible is what we can call a real warrior game. Great. I will rate Willis 8-43 above all bowling performance. May be more superb spells are still out of my knowledge but for now it was the best.

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:The one that made greatest impression on me was Massie - he demolished England twice in the same match.  He got prodigious amount of swing and in that match he was completely unplayable.  

Of the three I flagged (Underwood, Massie and Willis in chronological order), I would share the Corporal's view that Massie made the greatest impression on me for the reasons he succinctly gives plus it being his Test debut (Massie's, not the Corporal's) which made it all the more standoutish.