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Follow UsOff late, T20 aggression has found its way into red-ball cricket as well. It’s no surprise that 2023 ranks on top when it comes to scoring rates in Tests. In fact, the eight months in 2023 have seen an average scoring rate of 3.54 RPO - the first instance of the 3.5 RPO mark being breached in a calendar year.
A direct consequence of this can be seen in the number of overs bowled in an innings. Greater aggression means more risks taken, which means more opportunities for wickets to be taken. The first decade of this century saw an average of 90.5 overs bowled per innings, while the second decade saw it go down to 87.2. The most recent decade has witnessed this dip further to just 82.4.
Under such circumstances, the necessity for bowlers who can bowl marathon spells to no end has become all but obsolete. So, let's look back at a time when attrition was the name of the game, and pacers bowling extended spells of up to 30 overs at a stretch were not uncommon.
Fazal Mahmood (Pakistan)
Often considered to be the first great pacer from Pakistan, Fazal Mahmood was the wrecker-in-chief in Pakistan’s first Test victories over India, England, Australia, and West Indies. As a teenager, he had been selected to tour Australia as part of the Indian squad. However, he declined the offer considering Pakistan's imminent origin.
One of Fazal’s brightest moments came in the final Test of his maiden visit to England in 1954. The four-match series had seen the first and third Test drawn due to rain, and the visitors were routed to an innings defeat in the second Test. Playing for pride and the opportunity to end the series on a level scoreline, Fazal ended the match with a 12-for. The next day, a famous English daily gave the headline, ‘England Fazalled out’.
But that’s not the spell we want to talk about. A few years later, on his maiden tour of the Caribbean in 1958, Fazal got the rough end of the stick as he bowled 85.2 overs in Kingston for just two wickets.
An innings that is famous for Sobers’ career-best knock of 365* saw Pakistan bowl 208 overs in total. This is where Fazal’s lack of pace came to the fore. Fazal learned a hard lesson on a track that offered virtually no assistance. Pakistan batters tried to put up a fight but were no match for the daunting Windies bowlers. They ended up losing the game by an innings as West Indies took an unassailable 3-0 going into the fifth and final Test.
George Geary (England)
A handy all-rounder in his heydays, George Geary was quite the character. A career marred with war-related injuries, Geary is a classic case of what if?
Born in 1893 and one of the very few cricketers who managed to play county cricket before and after the first world war, the powerful chap from Leicestershire was known for his ability to seam the ball past the right-hander’s bat with great accuracy.
On a sluggish Melbourne track, George Geary - on his maiden tour to Australia - toiled hard as he bowled 81 overs in the first innings. This still holds the record for most overs bowled by an Englishman in a Test innings. He thankfully had a five-for to show for his efforts. He also accounted for the centurion Don Bradman in the process. Despite being a timeless Test, England, for some strange reason, opted to go in with just four bowling options. This led to spinners Jack White and Maurice Tate also sent down 75 and 62 overs, respectively.
George Giffen (Australia)
Yet another all-rounder, this time from the land down under. George Giffen still holds the record for being the only Australian to have scored over 10000 runs and taken over 1000 wickets in first-class cricket.
At a time when cricketers played cricket till they turned 50, Giffen was an early bloomer. He made his first-class debut, at the age of 18, in 1877. International cricket still not being a thing, coupled with the fact that Australia and England were the only major cricket-playing countries in the 18th century, meant that the South Australian played all his Tests against England.
Captaining his side for the first time in the 1894 home series against England, Giffen’s Australia became the first side to win a Test after following on in the first Test at the SCG. If that wasn’t historic enough, Giffen then became the first Test skipper to win the toss and opt to bowl first in the second Test at MCG.
Giffen’s call was vindicated as his bowlers blew the visitors away for 75, and Giffen did not bother to roll his arm over. With a slender lead of 48, the English batters walked out with a plan to bat in the second innings. They bided their time and played over 200 overs for their 475.
This time, the skipper Giffen kept bowling himself to try and get the better of Andrew Stoddart, the opposition skipper. He bowled 78.2 overs in total in the innings, then the record for most overs bowled by a bowler in an innings. The marathon spell reached a point where his fellow teammate Hugh Trumble agitatedly asked Giffen to take himself off - to which he responded, “Yes, I think I’ll go to the other end.”
Tom Cartwright (England)
The lad from Warwickshire was a man of few words. More popular for mentoring a young Ian Botham, he was an effective cricketer in his own right. Having made his first-class debut just a few weeks after his 17th birthday, Tom Cartwright became the youngest to score a Championship fifty since 1906.
A clever medium-pacer with the in-swinger as his stock delivery, he developed an out-swinger that made him a force to be reckoned with at the county level.
After several close encounters with his debut, he was finally handed the cap for the Manchester Test against Australia in 1964. A match that ended in a draw due to rain had Cartwright bowl 77 overs in his debut Test innings. He was miserly when it came to his bowling, with those 77 overs cost just 118 runs.
In all, he accounted for 15 wickets at the highest level. His strike rate of 107 balls/dismissal made critics opine that he was probably not made for covered wickets, which had been adopted worldwide for international cricket. He continued to be just as penetrative in the uncovered wickets of county cricket. His struggles with injuries meant he never got a chance again to add to his tally of five Tests.
