Tom Emmett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 England (Eng) |
||
 |
||
| Batting style | Left-hand bat (LHB) | |
| Bowling type | Round-arm left-arm fast | |
| Tests | First-class | |
| Matches | 7 | 426 |
| Runs scored | 13 | 9,053 |
| Batting average | 13.33 | 14.84 |
| 100s/50s | 0/0 | 1/24 |
| Top score | 48 | 104 |
| Balls bowled | 728 | 60,303 |
| Wickets | 9 | 1,572 |
| Bowling average | 31.55 | 13.55 |
| 5 wickets in innings | 1 | 122 |
| 10 wickets in match | 0 | 29 |
| Best bowling | 7/68 | 9/23 |
| Catches/stumpings | 9/0 | 276/0 |
|
Test debut: 15 March 1877 |
||
Thomas ("Tom") Emmett (born 3 September 1841–30 June 1904) was one of the finest bowlers in English cricket in the late 1860s, the 1870s and the early 1880s. Emmett was an extremely popular professional, with a cheery nature, inexhaustible energy and a florid nose, making him a huge favourite wherever he went.
Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, Emmett first joined Yorkshire when almost 25 as a professional fast left-arm bowler with a near roundarm action, though in his later years he took to bowling slow-medium. Once discovered, however, Emmett climbed almost immediately to the top of the cricketing tree, playing for England against Surrey & Sussex in Tom Lockyer's benefit match at the Oval in 1867, his second season. An even greater bowler, George Freeman, was approaching his best at the same time, and, from 1867 to the end of 1871, they dominated the English bowling scene. After 1871, however, business commitments took Freeman away from first-class cricket, but Emmett stayed on and found another able colleague in the excellent Allen Hill. In later years, Emmett shared the Yorkshire bowling duties with George Ulyett, Billy Bates, Ted Peate and Bobby Peel. He called his most famous delivery the "sostenuter": after pitching on leg the ball would break back a long way to take the off-stump. As time went on, Emmett's pace deserted him, but he made up for it by developing into a clever bowler full of device and untiring in effort.
Emmett toured Australia three times and North America once. He played seven Test matches, including the first-ever in 1877, and was also the bowling mainstay for Lord Harris's team in 1878/9. Emmett captained Yorkshire between 1878 and 1882, ending his connection with the eleven in 1888.
Emmett married a woman named Grace, three years his junior, and had four daughters (Clara, Frances, Evelyn and Edith) and two sons, (Arthur, who went on to play for Leicestershire in 1902, and Albert). He died in Leicester in 1904.
[edit] References
- Cricinfo page on Tom Emmett
- CricketArchive page on Tom Emmett
- A profile of Thomas Emmett by Don Ambrose
