Spinner to take 10 wickets in an innings and first to take 550 wickets was born on same day

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Jim Laker-Glenn McGrath

New Delhi: There is a special day in the life of all of us. Today is such a special day in the cricket world (On This Day). Today i.e. on February 9, two such legends were born, who made such records on the cricket field, which are still standing after many years. The first name among these giants is that of Jim Laker. Jim Laker is the first bowler in the world to take 10 wickets in an innings of a Test match. The name of the second legend born today is Glenn McGrath. Everyone knows that Glenn McGrath has become the benchmark of accurate bowling. Talking about the record, McGrath has the credit of being the first pacer to take 550 wickets in Test cricket.

Whenever it comes to great performance in the cricket world, Jim Laker’s name comes first. This England spinner took 19 wickets in a test match against Australia. He took 9 wickets in the first innings of the match and took all 10 wickets in the second innings. It was the performance of off-spinner Laker that England won the match by an innings and 170 runs. In reply to England’s 459, Australia was bundled out for 84 and 205 respectively. This historic match was played in 1956 at Old Trafford. James Charles Laker i.e. Jim Laker played a total of 46 Tests in his career and took 193 wickets.

Now about Glenn McGrath. This Australian bowler took 949 wickets in his international career of 14 years. These include 563 test wickets. McGrath was the first fast bowler in the world to cross the 550 Test wicket mark. This bowler of about 6 and a half feet used to get good bounce and swing due to his height. But his greatest strength was line-length control. He was adept at bowling the same line length for long periods of time.

Jim Laker-Glenn McGrath

Cricket lovers know that Jim Laker took 10 wickets in an innings 66 years ago today. It is not possible to get ahead of them. In these 66 years, only Anil Kumble has become such a bowler, who could match Jim Laker. Kumble took 10 wickets in an innings in the Delhi Test against Pakistan in 1999.

The record of Glenn McGrath is also almost the same. He did the feat of taking 550 wickets in 2006. Since then, James Anderson is the only bowler who has been able to cross McGrath’s figure. Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Shane Warne (709), James Anderson (640), Anil Kumble (619), and Glenn McGrath (563) are the only five bowlers to take Test wickets to date.

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