Best Bowling Figures in First-Class Cricket

Taking all ten wickets in an innings is not something we see too often. It takes a lot of strategy and a bit of luck to pull off this feat.

But a few bowlers have run through the entire opposition’s batting lineup to return with some record bowling figures.

So here’s a look at the best bowling figures recorded in first-class (FC) cricket.

Bowlers with 10-Wicket in an Innings in FC

Player	Figures	Opponent	Venue	Season
Hedley Verity	10-10	Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire	Leeds	1932
George Geary	10-18	Leicestershire v Glamorgan	Pontypridd	1929
Premangsu Chatterjee	10-20	Bengal v Assam	Jorhat	1956-57
Bert Vogler	10-26	E Province v Griqualand West	Johannesburg	1906-07
Albert Moss	10-28	Canterbury v Wellington	Christchurch	1889-90
Bill Howell	10-28	Australians v Surrey	The Oval	1899
Naeem Akhtar	10-28	Rawalpindi Blues v Peshawar B	Peshawar	1995-96
Colin Blythe	10-30	Kent v Northamptonshire	Northampton	1907
Harry Pickett	10-32	Essex v Leicestershire	Leyton	1895
Alonzo Drake	10-35	Yorkshire v Somerset	Weston-s-M	1914
Hedley Verity	10-36	Yorkshire v Warwickshire	Leeds	1931
Tim Wall	10-36	South Australia v NSW	Sydney	1932-33
Sean Whitehead	10-36	South Western Districts v Easterns	Oudtshoorn	2021-22
Alec Kennedy	10-37	Players v Gentlemen	The Oval	1927
Clarrie Grimmett	10-37	Australians v Yorkshire	Sheffield	1930
Malinda Pushpakumara	10-37	Colombo Cricket Club v Saracens Sports Club	Moratuwa	2018-19
Samuel Butler	10-38	Oxford U v Cambridge U	Lord’s	1871
George Dennett	10-40	Gloucestershire v Essex	Bristol	1906
William Bestwick	10-40	Derbyshire v Glamorgan	Cardiff	1921
Gubby Allen	10-40	Middlesex v Lancashire	Lord’s	1929
Jack Bannister	10-41	Warwickshire v Comb Services	Birmingham	1959
Pramodya Wickramasinghe	10-41	Sinhalese SC v Kalutara PCC	Colombo	1991-92
Albert Trott	10-42	Middlesex v Somerset	Taunton	1900
Edward Barratt	10-43	Players v Australians	The Oval	1878
Tom Rushby	10-43	Surrey v Somerset	Taunton	1921
Ian Brayshaw	10-44	Western Australia v Victoria	Perth	1967-68
Tom Richardson	10-45	Surrey v Essex	The Oval	1894
Richard Johnson	10-45	Middlesex v Derbyshire	Derby	1994
William Hickton	10-46	Lancashire v Hampshire	Manchester	1870
Debasis Mohanty	10-46	East Zone v South Zone	Agartala	2000-01
Frank Smailes	10-47	Yorkshire v Derbyshire	Sheffield	1939
Ottis Gibson	10-47	Durham v Hampshire	Durham	2007
Cyril Bland	10-48	Sussex v Kent	Tonbridge	1899
W.G. Grace	10-49	MCC v Oxford U	Oxford	1886
Edward Tayler	10-49	Somerset v Surrey	Taunton	1895
Eric Hollies	10-49	Warwickshire v Nottinghamshire	Birmingham	1946
Ian Thomson	10-49	Sussex v Warwickshire	Worthing	1964
Anshul Kamboj	10-49	Haryana v Kerala	Rohtak	2024-25
Harry Howell	10-51	Warwickshire v Yorkshire	Birmingham	1923
Jack Mercer	10-51	Glamorgan v Worcestershire	Worcester	1936
Bart King	10-53	Philadelphia v Ireland	Haverford	1909
Tich Freeman	10-53	Kent v Essex	Southend	1930
Jim Laker	10-53	England v Australia	Manchester	1956
George Wootton	10-54	All England XI v Yorkshire	Sheffield	1865
Tony Lock	10-54	Surrey v Kent	Blackheath	1956
Johnny Briggs	10-55	Lancashire v Worcestershire	Manchester	1900
Shahid Mahmood	10-58	Karachi Whites v Khairpur	Karachi	1969-70
George Burton	10-59	Middlesex v Surrey	The Oval	1888
Stephen Jefferies	10-59	Western Province v OFS	Cape Town	1987-88
Peter Allan	10-61	Queensland v Victoria	Melbourne	1965-66
Tommy Mitchell	10-64	Derbyshire v Leicestershire	Leicester	1935
George Collins	10-65	Kent v Nottinghamshire	Dover	1922
Morné Olivier	10-65	Warriors v Eagles	Bloemfontein	2007-08
George Giffen	10-66	Australia v Rest of Australia	Sydney	1883-84
Arthur Mailey	10-66	Australians v Gloucestershire	Cheltenham	1921
Ken Graveney	10-66	Gloucestershire v Derbyshire	Chesterfield	1949
Ken Smales	10-66	Nottinghamshire v Gloucestershire	Stroud	1956
Eddie Watts	10-67	Surrey v Warwickshire	Birmingham	1939
Sammy Woods	10-69	Cambridge U v CI Thornton’s XI	Cambridge	1890
Alfred Shaw	10-73	MCC v North of England	Lord’s	1874
Vyell Walker	10-74	England v Surrey	The Oval	1859
Anil Kumble	10-74	India v Pakistan	Delhi	1998-99
Jack White	10-76	Somerset v Worcestershire	Worcester	1921
Subhash Gupte	10-78	President’s XI v Combined XI	Bombay	1954-55
Tony Pearson	10-78	Cambridge U v Leicestershire	Loughborough	1961
Pradeep Sunderam	10-78	Rajasthan v Vidarbha	Jodhpur	1985-86
Charlie Parker	10-79	Gloucestershire v Somerset	Bristol	1921
Tich Freeman	10-79	Kent v Lancashire	Manchester	1931
Jim Laker	10-88	Surrey v Australians	The Oval	1956
Arthur Fielder	10-90	Players v Gentlemen	Lord’s	1906
Frank Tarrant	10-90	Maharaja of Cooch-Behar’s XI v Lord Willingdon’s XI	Poona	1918-19
Jim Sims	10-90	East v West	Kingston	1948
Trevor Bailey	10-90	Essex v Lancashire	Clacton	1949
Imran Adil	10-92	Bahawalpur v Faisalabad	Faisalabad	1989-90
Bob Berry	10-102	Lancashire v Worcestershire	Blackpool	1953
Vyell Walker	10-104	Middlesex v Lancashire	Manchester	1865
Tom Goddard	10-113	Gloucestershire v Worcestershire	Cheltenham	1937
Ajaz Patel	10-119	New Zealand v India	Mumbai	2021-22
Vallance Jupp	10-127	Northamptonshire v Kent	Tunbridge W	1932
James Lillywhite	10-129	South v North	Canterbury	1872
Tich Freeman	10-131	Kent v Lancashire	Maidstone	1929
Zulfiqar Babar	10-143	Multan v Islamabad	Multan	2009-10
Eddie Hemmings	10-175	International XI v West Indies XI	Kingston	1982-83
Edward Hinkly	10- ?	Kent v England	Lord’s	1848
John Wisden	10- ?	North v South	Lord’s	1850

Key Insights on Best Bowling Figures in First-Class Cricket

FC Innings Bowling Record Figures and Ten-Wicket Hauls

Hedley Verity has picked up the best bowling figures in an innings in first-class cricket. He claimed 10 wickets for a mere 10 runs for Yorkshire against Nottinghamshire at Leeds in the 1932 County Championship fixture.

Over 85 bowlers have taken a ten-wicket haul in an innings in FC cricket.

Alfred Freeman has taken the most instances of ten-wicket hauls in an FC innings. He bagged three ten-fors for Kent, twice against Lancashire (10/131 in 1929 & 10/79 in 1931) and once against Essex (10/53 in 1930).

Verity, William Grace, Jim Laker and Vyell Walker are the other bowlers with two instances of taking ten wickets in an FC innings.

William Lillywhite was the first bowler to claim all ten wickets in an FC innings. He did so for Players against Gentlemen at Lord’s in 1837.

Historic Bowling Feats in FC Cricket

Laker has claimed the best bowling figures in an innings in Test cricket. He fetched 10 for 53 against Australia in the second innings of the 1956 Manchester Test.

Laker has also recorded the best bowling figures in a first-class match and Test match. Before the ten-for, he took 9 for 37 in the first innings to have combined figures of 19 for 90.

John Wisden’s ten-wicket haul had all ‘bowled out’ dismissals for North against South in the second innings in the 1850 Lord’s match. He is the only one to do so in FC history.

Albert Moss claimed 10 for 28 for Canterbury against Wellington in 1889. Notably, he achieved the feat in the first innings of his debut FC match.

Brett Randell from New Zealand became the first bowler to take five wickets in five consecutive balls in FC cricket. He achieved the feat across two overs for Central Districts against Northern Districts in the 2025-26 Plunket Shield. He later finished with 7 for 25. (Relive Brett Randell’s unique feat here.)

Australia’s Arthur Mailey has conceded the most expensive bowling figures in an FC innings. He gave away 362 runs for four wickets for New South Wales against Victoria in the 1926/27 Sheffield Shield.

Youngest and Oldest Bowling Records in FC Cricket

Imran Adil from Pakistan is the youngest bowler to take a ten-wicket haul in an FC innings. He was 18 years and 344 days old when he returned 10 for 92 for Bahawalpur against Faisalabad in the 1989-90 BCCP Patron’s Trophy.

Billy Bestwick is the oldest with a ten-for in an FC innings, at 46 years and 116 days. He took 10 for 40 for Derbyshire against Glamorgan in the 1921 County Championship.

Mushtaq Mohammad, meanwhile, is the youngest to pick up a five-wicket haul in FC cricket. He was 13 years and 43 days old when he took 5 for 28 for Karachi Whites against Sind in the 1956-57 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.