It’s the stuff of a Boy’s Own annual – a young hero takes ten wickets in the match, top scores in both innings and leads off his side to warm applause after their victory in which he had, almost single-handedly, played a decisive role. This is precisely what Chris Woakes of Warwickshire achieved against Hampshire in their LV= County Championship match against Hampshire at Edgbaston which started on August 18, but with one major difference – he ended up on the losing side!
The 22-year-old began the match by taking 7 for 20 in Hampshire’s first innings as the visitors were dismissed for 141. He followed this up by scoring 64 as Warwickshire replied with 250, with Woakes being one of three batsmen in the West Midlands side to pass fifty. Hampshire then made 416 with Woakes taking three further wickets in his 24.3 overs to complete a ten-wicket match haul – the third of his county career.
Hampshire went on to dismiss Warwickshire for just 98 in 39.2 overs, with Woakes, batting at number eight, remaining unbeaten on 23 as his side lost by 209 runs. Five Warwickshire batsmen failed to score, including numbers 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the order.
Thanks to research by Andrew Samson, the eminent South African statistician, it can be confirmed that Woakes is only the seventh player to achieve this somewhat dubious honour in a Championship match, and the first since 1988 when Franklyn Stephenson, the West Indian all-rounder, scored a century in each innings for Nottinghamshire in their match against Yorkshire at Trent Bridge and claimed eleven wickets in the match, yet still ended up on the losing side as the visitors won by 127 runs.
Another remarkable all-round performance which was all in vain came from Vallance Jupp at Tunbridge Wells in 1932. The Northamptonshire all-rounder took all ten of the wickets in Kent’s first innings, as they were dismissed for 360. However, Northamptonshire were then bundled out for 97 and 75 with Jupp top-scoring in each innings as his side lost by an innings and 188 runs.
For the record, the other players to have top-scored in each innings, and taken ten wickets in a County Championship match, yet still ended up on the losing side are listed below:
GF Grace 26, 37; 4-46, 6-48 Gloucestershire v Surrey at The Oval, 1875
CB Fry 89, 65; 5-81, 5-66 Sussex v Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, 1896
JW Hearne 22, 58*; 7-62, 3-56 Middlesex v Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, 1920
E Robson 31, 50; 4-93, 6-84 Somerset v Surrey at Taunton, 1921
VWC Jupp 34, 32; 10-127 Northamptonshire v Kent at Tunbridge Wells, 1932
FD Stephenson 111, 117; 4-105,7-117 Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire at Trent Bridge, 1988
CR Woakes 64, 23*; 7-20, 3-103 Warwickshire v Hampshire at Edgbaston, 2011
