The havoc that Jasprit Bumrah wreaked in the first Test match between India and Australia at the Optus Stadium in Perth just a few days ago will be remembered for many years to come. Bumrah had eliminated Australia from the match on the very first day of the match. Bumrah took 8 wickets in this match. Along with this amazing feat of Bumrah, one thing was discussed a lot and that is his bowling average, which is among the top bowlers in the history of cricket. Today is the day to remember the bowler who is at number one in this list. The name is George Lohman, who left the world at the age of just 36.
Debut at 21, died at 36
Test cricket started about 147 years ago and George Lohmann entered it about 9 years later. This right-arm fast bowler from England made his Test debut against Australia in 1886. He was only 21 years old then and it did not take him much time to establish his place. Lohmann’s international career lasted only 10 years in which he could play only 18 tests and the reason for this was tuberculosis.
In 1992, when Lohman was just 27 years old, he was diagnosed with TB. With this disease, he played cricket for the next few years but then it became difficult for him and finally in 1996 he played his last Test and his last first class match. After this he went to South Africa. On December 1, 1901, at the age of just 36, he left this world forever due to TB. Lohman spent only a short time in the world and playing cricket, but it was enough to make an impact on the game.
Best average, fastest to 100 wickets
In many reports, quoting his teammates, it is said that at that time there was no bowler more difficult than him. This is also evident from his statistics, which till date no one has been able to leave him behind. Lohman played only 18 Tests and took 112 wickets. He achieved these wickets at an astonishing average of just 10.75. This is still the best average among all the bowlers who have taken more than 100 wickets in the history of Test cricket.
Talking about Bumrah, he has taken 181 wickets in his 41 Test career at an average of just 20.4, which is amazing in itself. From this it can be estimated what kind of havoc Lohman would have wreaked on the batsmen. Not only this, his strike rate was also 34.1, which is the best even today. Lohmann had completed 100 wickets in just 16 tests and this is also a world record. In his entire first class cricket career, Lohman played 293 matches and took 1841 wickets, in which his average was only 13.73.