Helped By Higgs To Incomparable Heights
With Ken Higgs providing the support Statham had been yearning for since he began, 1958 marked the beginning of Statham's greatest period. Despite England's "old guard" of May, Laker and Lock collapsing in the Australian tour of 1958/1959 and England losing four-nil, Statham bowled as beautifully as ever. His 7 for 57 at the MCG was regarded as some of the best bowling ever seen at the ground, and represents his best figures against Australia.
In the following two seasons, though pitches in England were covered after play began for the first time, Statham carried all before him both at county and Test level. So good was he that in 1960 his speed and accuracy gave him an average of 10.91 from 19 county matches, and in the Tests against the South Africans he was equally formidable: taking 11 for 97 at Lord's and inflicting only the third "king pair" (out first ball in each innings) on "Tich" Wesley in the third match. The previous year, in an exceptionally dry summer, Statham's consistency was shown by the fact that, with only one haul of six in an innings, he still took 97 wickets for 16.49 each despite missing seven games with a strain. By 1960, Higgs' assistance, gave Lancashire so formidable an opening attack that until mid-August, they looked like winning the Championship. In many games, such as that against Gloucestershire at Bristol, they dominated proceedings so completely that Lancashire won with little support from their batting. Against the West Indies in 1960/1961, Statham confirmed his position as the best bowler in the world with 27 wickets for 20 runs each on pitches offering bowlers very little.
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