Foxes Flashback - George Gill
Sat 16 May 2020
16th May 1905 Record bowling performance
On 16th May, 1905, George Gill became the first Leicestershire bowler to take 9 wickets in an innings in a County Championship match, and therefore became the holder of the ‘best bowling in an innings’ record. Sadly for him it was bettered just two months later. Arthur Woodcock had previously taken 9 wickets, but that was in a non championship match against the MCC.
On this day at Edgbaston he bowled ‘fast, direct and on a good length’. The ball with which he dismissed the Warwickshire opener Baker, broke the stump. He finished the match by bowling Warwickshire’s last batsman, and Leicestershire won a tight match by just 9 runs. He bowled 63 overs in the match, and had figures of 13 for 157. As they finished the game a day early, he had a day off to prepare himself for the next match at Leicester against Yorkshire. Here he bowled 52 overs as Yorkshire built up a mammoth score of 515, during which George Hirst* scored 341, the record score for Yorkshire. Gill though took 6 for 172, an astonishing workload and performance for a fast bowler.
