One of the greatest off-spin bowlers in history (and one of my favorite bowlers), James "Jim" Charles Laker (9 February 1922 -- 23 April 1986) was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s He is known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia. He played 46 Test matches between 1948 and 1959, taking 193 wickets with a bowling average of 21.24; in all first-class matches he took 1,944 wickets at 18.41. He was at his most destructive on "sticky" wickets and had great command over his line and length as well as the "floater" a ball that moved away from the batsman in the air and turned sharply towards the batsman's pads after pitching.