county at 12.77 including his best-ever innings return of eight for 34 (fifteen for 89 in the match) against Warwickshire at Coventry. England won the Test series against West Indies with three innings victories and two matches drawn. It was in this series that the famous Statham/Trueman partnership began in earnest. They bowled together in the first three Tests until Statham was sidelined by injury. He took thirteen wickets in the series with a best of five for 118. He and Trueman shared fifteen wickets in the drawn Trent Bridge Test, which England would probably have won but for bad weather. Statham's consistent control of line and length meant that it was very difficult for a batsman to hit him for six and it happened only rarely, even off his bad balls. In the Trent Bridge Test, Collie Smith played a back foot drive to a full-length delivery and the ball sailed over Statham's head and onto the roof of the pavilion. Statham said later that he was astounded, especially as Smith was in the not-so-nervous nineties at the time (he went on to score 168). 1958 season Statham had an outstanding season in county cricket and took 134 wickets overall at a career-best season average of 12.29. He had ten five-wicket innings with a best of seven for 29 (thirteen for 64 in the match) against Leicestershire at Old Trafford. Statham and Tattersall bowled Glamorgan out for 26 in Cardiff. The arrival of Ken Higgs from Staffordshire made a huge difference to the team by providing Statham with the new ball support he had hitherto always needed. Lancashire finished seventh in the championship but, although that was one place lower than in 1957, Playfair commented that they had gained far more than they had lost by placing their faith in some promising young players. At Derby, he took his career total of wickets past 1,000 in Lancashire's match against Derbyshire. For various reasons, Statham played in only the fourth and fifth Tests against New Zealand and took seven wickets at 18.57 with best figures of four for 71. England won the first four Tests and the fifth was drawn. Statham had an outstanding game against Yorkshire in the Roses Match at Headingley, where Lancashire won by eight wickets. In the first innings, with the ball achieving tremendous lift and deviation off a drying pitch, Statham took six for sixteen