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The Tiger King
Ranked as one of the 5 cricketers of the century by Wisden, we start our top 10 countdown with
Number 10 Sir Jack Hobbs
Highest Ranking 4
Total Points 647
Number of Votes Received 40/57
Rank in 1st Edition 5
What they said of him
"There is hardly a soul in the British Empire who does not know of England's greatest Cricketer... Jack Hobbs." (Opening screen of an official documentary on Jack Hobbs in 1932)
“As we were taking the field against the M.C.C. our captain Herbie Collins said "You must all be on your toes out here today. We'll be facing 'The Master'". I had no idea who "The Master" was so I asked Arthur Mailey. Arthur replied, "'The Master's' Jack Hobbs and you'll soon see why." I did. He tapped the ball here, there and everywhere and had us all running around in circles as if he were the ring-master of a circus and we his obedient and bewildered slaves.” (Hal Hooker narrating an incident regarding the thrall that Hobbs was held in)
“Behind them were nine years of wonderful attainment, 26 opening partnerships of 100 or more; a legendary technique and repute unequalled by any other pair; the lean, active quizzical Hobbs and the neat, wiry imperturbable Sutcliffe, who set a standard that can serve as a guide, but defied all attempts at emulation.” (Hobbs’s biographer Ronald Mason on the partnership between Hobbs and Sutcliffe)
Jack Hobbs
Every December 16, a special club meets at The Oval for a lunch party to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of one man. The menu, by tradition, is that man's favourite meal--tomato soup, roast lamb, apple pie--though it is now nearly 40 years since he himself was able to attend. At this lunch, there is just one toast. It is, quite simply, to "The Master". This is the Master's Club. Note the position of the apostrophe. There is only one Master: Jack Hobbs. The vast majority of the guests now never even saw him play. But the tradition thrives. It is a telling tribute, not simply to Hobbs the cricketer, but to Hobbs the human being. Jack Hobbs scored more runs than anyone else in the history of first-class cricket: 61,237. He scored more centuries than anyone else, 197. Most astonishingly from a modern perspective, the last 98 came after his 40th birthday. However, his career batting average is 50.65, which does not even put him in Wisden's top fifty. Only sixteen of those hundreds were double-hundreds. One says only with trepidation, because just four men have surpassed that. But the figure does not remotely compare with Bradman's 37 or Walter Hammond's 36. Hobbs was not primarily interested in scoring runs for their own sake. For much of his career he would go in at the top of a strong Surrey batting order on good Oval pitches. His job was to get the innings started. He would frequently be out for a-hundred-and-few, and was content enough himself with 60 or 70, though he liked to please his friends who took such things more seriously. But there were other times, when wickets had fallen and the ball was flying: "That was the time you had to earn your living," he said. More than that, it was when he earned his undying reputation, his knighthood and his place as a Cricketer of the Century. He was never as dominant as Bradman; he never wanted to be. But his contemporaries were in awe of his ability to play supremely and at whim, whatever the conditions.
Hobbs set the standard for 20th-century batsmanship. As he attained his peak in the years before the First World War, he switched the emphasis away from gentlemanly Victorian off-side play to a more pragmatic approach, with an emphasis on the businesslike pull, plus an acute judgment of length, footwork and, where necessary, pad play to counter the googly bowlers of his youth. He was not an artist, like some of his predecessors, nor yet a scientist, like some of the moderns; he was perhaps the supreme craftsman. (John Wisden and Co)
Number 10 Sir Jack Hobbs
Highest Ranking 4
Total Points 647
Number of Votes Received 40/57
Rank in 1st Edition 5
What they said of him
"There is hardly a soul in the British Empire who does not know of England's greatest Cricketer... Jack Hobbs." (Opening screen of an official documentary on Jack Hobbs in 1932)
“As we were taking the field against the M.C.C. our captain Herbie Collins said "You must all be on your toes out here today. We'll be facing 'The Master'". I had no idea who "The Master" was so I asked Arthur Mailey. Arthur replied, "'The Master's' Jack Hobbs and you'll soon see why." I did. He tapped the ball here, there and everywhere and had us all running around in circles as if he were the ring-master of a circus and we his obedient and bewildered slaves.” (Hal Hooker narrating an incident regarding the thrall that Hobbs was held in)
“Behind them were nine years of wonderful attainment, 26 opening partnerships of 100 or more; a legendary technique and repute unequalled by any other pair; the lean, active quizzical Hobbs and the neat, wiry imperturbable Sutcliffe, who set a standard that can serve as a guide, but defied all attempts at emulation.” (Hobbs’s biographer Ronald Mason on the partnership between Hobbs and Sutcliffe)
Jack Hobbs
Every December 16, a special club meets at The Oval for a lunch party to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of one man. The menu, by tradition, is that man's favourite meal--tomato soup, roast lamb, apple pie--though it is now nearly 40 years since he himself was able to attend. At this lunch, there is just one toast. It is, quite simply, to "The Master". This is the Master's Club. Note the position of the apostrophe. There is only one Master: Jack Hobbs. The vast majority of the guests now never even saw him play. But the tradition thrives. It is a telling tribute, not simply to Hobbs the cricketer, but to Hobbs the human being. Jack Hobbs scored more runs than anyone else in the history of first-class cricket: 61,237. He scored more centuries than anyone else, 197. Most astonishingly from a modern perspective, the last 98 came after his 40th birthday. However, his career batting average is 50.65, which does not even put him in Wisden's top fifty. Only sixteen of those hundreds were double-hundreds. One says only with trepidation, because just four men have surpassed that. But the figure does not remotely compare with Bradman's 37 or Walter Hammond's 36. Hobbs was not primarily interested in scoring runs for their own sake. For much of his career he would go in at the top of a strong Surrey batting order on good Oval pitches. His job was to get the innings started. He would frequently be out for a-hundred-and-few, and was content enough himself with 60 or 70, though he liked to please his friends who took such things more seriously. But there were other times, when wickets had fallen and the ball was flying: "That was the time you had to earn your living," he said. More than that, it was when he earned his undying reputation, his knighthood and his place as a Cricketer of the Century. He was never as dominant as Bradman; he never wanted to be. But his contemporaries were in awe of his ability to play supremely and at whim, whatever the conditions.
Hobbs set the standard for 20th-century batsmanship. As he attained his peak in the years before the First World War, he switched the emphasis away from gentlemanly Victorian off-side play to a more pragmatic approach, with an emphasis on the businesslike pull, plus an acute judgment of length, footwork and, where necessary, pad play to counter the googly bowlers of his youth. He was not an artist, like some of his predecessors, nor yet a scientist, like some of the moderns; he was perhaps the supreme craftsman. (John Wisden and Co)
