Broadly speaking, Freddie Trueman was right when, on claiming the record for most Test wickets, he volunteered: "Any booger who passes that mark will be bluddy tired." West Indies off-spinner Lance Gibbs eventually broke Trueman's record of 307 Test wickets. It took him 27,000 deliveries and his reward was a huge carbuncle on his spinning finger, so presumably he was sore as well as tired.

Since then, the record has been stretched to 800 wickets (which would have been thought of as unattainable in Trueman's day) by Sri Lankan off-spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan. Murali deserved to be tired—it took him a mammoth 44,000-plus deliveries.