neville cardus
International Debutant
The Picador Book of Cricket is probably the most recent volume in which you'll find it.
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A word on Tom Emmett
- Thread starter neville cardus
- Start date
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
On Tom Emmett's wides, here is what the good doctor himself has to say.
Tom Emmett bowled more wides, which were not called by the umpire, than any man I ever played with. He invariably bowled on the off side for catches, but in his first over he never seemed to know where he was going to send the ball. Sometimes his first two or three deliveries would be yards wide of the wicket, but every now and then he put in a ball which was absolutely unplayable.
I am not sure that his erratic tendency was not the secret of his success, as the batsman never knew when a good ball was coming. Umpires were very lenient with Tom and let many a "wide" go uncalled when he was bowling.
I am not sure that his erratic tendency was not the secret of his success, as the batsman never knew when a good ball was coming. Umpires were very lenient with Tom and let many a "wide" go uncalled when he was bowling.
Source : Cricketing Reminiscences & Personal Recollections - WG Grace
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SJS
Hall of Fame Member
WG narrates another interesting incident.
At one time Tom Emmett was engaged as professional bowler to a local club in Yorkshire. One Saturday afternoon he was bowling for his club, but the fieldsmen dropped catch after catch with such systamatic persistence that Tom lost his temper, threw the ball on the ground and said with asperity, "I'm not going to bowl anymore. There is an epidemic on this ground, but, thank God it ain't catchin' !"
This bon met of Emmett's reminds me of Jack Crossland's remarks to two fielders who had both run for a catch and missed it. " I'll tell you what it is," roared Crossland (whose language I expurgate) "One of you is as good as two and two of you is as good as one - for neither one nor both of you can hold a catch."
This bon met of Emmett's reminds me of Jack Crossland's remarks to two fielders who had both run for a catch and missed it. " I'll tell you what it is," roared Crossland (whose language I expurgate) "One of you is as good as two and two of you is as good as one - for neither one nor both of you can hold a catch."
Source : Cricketing Reminiscences & Personal Recollections - WG Grace
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
Finally, writing about his contemporaries, WG heads the piece on Emmett as AN ECCENTRIC CHARACTER and writes ...
....... (here WG relates the story about "Don't you Tom me !" and then goes on)
Thomas Emmett was at once one of the most popular and proficient cricketers of his time. Tom deserves a biographer who can do justice to himself and his performances, for he was an odd "character" as well as a first class cricketer. He is the hero of a hundred good stories, as he was the life and soul of every team of which he was a member. His great bowling feats are legion in number - so numerous that to enumerate even a few would give a very inadequate idea of the man and his work.
Fast round arm left hand with a high delivery, curious and puzzling in itself, a leg break varying from an inch to a foot - that describes his bowling, but the description is incomplete if no mention is made of Tom's extraordinary antics, of his quaint appearance and erratic recklessness.
As a rule, when Tom went on to bowl he sent down two ot three wides - not doubtful wides, but thoroughly out-and-out, unquestionable, glaring wides. This was generally called "Tom's preliminary canter", and Tom's comrades smiled at the eccentricity, because they knew that at any moment he might send down a ball which it would pass the power of any batsman to play.
He had one impossible ball - it pitched between the batsman's leg and the wicket and breaking towards the off, would just displace the bails. Tom almost invariably got my wicket when he bowled that ball (happily it was not a ball he could put in very often), but I always took consolation with the thought that that particular ball would beat any batsman on earth.
Emmett bowled on the "off-theory" before it became fashionable and many a capital bat fell a victim to a ball he used to send to the off, with a deceptive break to the off, which, when the batsman touched it with the edge of the bat, gave an easy chance in the slips.
Tom Emmett bowling was a terror but Tom Emmett batting was a sight for the Gods. He was reckless and excited as a rule when he began his innings, and would start for a run immediately he touched the ball, never thinking to look where it had gone, or caring whether it had been fielded. I remember throwing down his wicket on one occasion when, having just played a ball to short slip, he set out for a run. If he survived the first two or three overs, he generally batted with conspicuous skill, his driving being specially fine.
Fast round arm left hand with a high delivery, curious and puzzling in itself, a leg break varying from an inch to a foot - that describes his bowling, but the description is incomplete if no mention is made of Tom's extraordinary antics, of his quaint appearance and erratic recklessness.
As a rule, when Tom went on to bowl he sent down two ot three wides - not doubtful wides, but thoroughly out-and-out, unquestionable, glaring wides. This was generally called "Tom's preliminary canter", and Tom's comrades smiled at the eccentricity, because they knew that at any moment he might send down a ball which it would pass the power of any batsman to play.
He had one impossible ball - it pitched between the batsman's leg and the wicket and breaking towards the off, would just displace the bails. Tom almost invariably got my wicket when he bowled that ball (happily it was not a ball he could put in very often), but I always took consolation with the thought that that particular ball would beat any batsman on earth.
Emmett bowled on the "off-theory" before it became fashionable and many a capital bat fell a victim to a ball he used to send to the off, with a deceptive break to the off, which, when the batsman touched it with the edge of the bat, gave an easy chance in the slips.
Tom Emmett bowling was a terror but Tom Emmett batting was a sight for the Gods. He was reckless and excited as a rule when he began his innings, and would start for a run immediately he touched the ball, never thinking to look where it had gone, or caring whether it had been fielded. I remember throwing down his wicket on one occasion when, having just played a ball to short slip, he set out for a run. If he survived the first two or three overs, he generally batted with conspicuous skill, his driving being specially fine.
....... (here WG relates the story about "Don't you Tom me !" and then goes on)
Emmett played for Yorkshire and captained the team till he was forty-six and even then he was in very fair form. He went to Australia with the 1876, 1878 and 1881 teams and played for the Players on many occasions. He had any number of friends and no enemies and he was sadly missed when his first class cricketing days ended.
Source : Cricketing Reminiscences & Personal Recollections - WG Grace
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
His Wisden obituary makes some interesting observations. Its interesting to keep in mind that this was written 104 years ago !
He was, perhaps, the only instance of a great fast bowler who was skilful enough to remain effective after he had lost his pace. Those who only saw him bowl in the latter part of his career, when his main object was to get catches on the off side, can have no idea of what he was like when he first won fame in the cricket field. His speed for five or six years was tremendous, and every now and then he would send down an unplayable ball that pitched on the leg stump and broke back nearly the width of the wicket.
....
A still greater bowler-the late George Freeman-was getting to his best at the same time, and from 1867 to 1871 inclusive, the two men did wonderful things together. How they would have fared on the more carefully prepared wickets of these days is a question difficult to answer. The important point is that under the conditions prevailing in their own time they were irresistible. It is quite safe to say that a more deadly pair of purely fast bowlers never played on the same side.
....
A still greater bowler-the late George Freeman-was getting to his best at the same time, and from 1867 to 1871 inclusive, the two men did wonderful things together. How they would have fared on the more carefully prepared wickets of these days is a question difficult to answer. The important point is that under the conditions prevailing in their own time they were irresistible. It is quite safe to say that a more deadly pair of purely fast bowlers never played on the same side.