because Jack Cheetham suffered a nasty injury when he was struck on the elbow by the final ball of the day, bowled by Trueman. On Monday, Statham routed South Africa with what Playfair called a fine display of hostile bowling. His figures were seven for 39 and England won by 71 runs. In Statham's Wisden obituary, the writer recalled this match and said Statham bowled unchanged in a feat of endurance, causing South Africa to lose a match they had been dominating. Having missed the third Test, Statham returned to partner Peter Loader in the fourth at Headingley where South Africa won by 224 runs to level the series. Statham took three for 35 in the first innings when South Africa were dismissed for 171. England's first innings lead was only 20 and South Africa soon overtook that before amassing exactly 500 in their second innings, Statham taking two wickets for a huge 129 runs. He was rarely so expensive. England were all out for 256. South Africa's win set up a series decider at the Oval where England played an attack of Statham, Bailey, Laker and Lock (one pace, one seam, two spinners). The spinners made the difference, Laker and Lock sharing 15 wickets for England to win by 92 runs. Statham took two for 31 and none for 17. His series tally was 17 wickets at 21.35 and he was the leading English wicket-taker. Statham as a typical tail-ender was rarely mentioned for his batting but he made the highest first-class score of his career in 1955 with 62 for Lancashire against Leicestershire. He could have scored many more but his captain, Cyril Washbrook, asked him to get himself out so that he would be fresh to bowl. Statham took a total of 108 first-class wickets in the season at 14.56, his best return being the seven for 39 in the Lord's Test. He took ten wickets in a match for the first time in his career with five for 27 and five for 21 (ten for 48 in the match) against Warwickshire at Old Trafford in May. Lancashire won the match by 72 runs. For the second season in succession, he was included in the Playfair XI. 1956 season There was no winter tour in 1955–56. The summer of 1956 was exceptionally wet and the pitches consistently favoured spin bowling. Lancashire benefited in that respect as both