Clem Hill's Reminiscences

on its way to the boundary. It was a rare bit of work, and the execution was simply perfect. I have never seen a better stroke. It was only a gifted batsman who could make it. In fact, the only other batsman who has done it is, in my opinion, Victor Trumper. Journalist and broadcaster Johnnie Moyes worshipped Hill as a schoolboy in Adelaide and later played for South Australia under his leadership. In his book, A Century of Cricketers , published in 1950, he remarked: When Clem took his stance at the wicket purpose and aggression were evident. He wasn’t very tall, but he was sturdy with powerful forearms. He gripped the handle lower than any other top-notcher I have seen, with the attitude of a man who is determined to hit the ball hard. When he moved out to drive, it was a perfect advance, one foot behind the other and right to the pitch of the ball. He could slide back with uncanny speed either to glance or force the ball to the on-side. He loved this forcing shot and played it with certainty. He could drive straight or past cover with rare speed. When he hit the fast bowlers past point, it was like the crack of a whip. I have never seen a batsman who could hit the fast bowler with greater fury than Hill. So called ‘bumpers’ would have made him dance, but with glee. He could hook with the best of them. I remember Clem as a fighter always. He could be dour when necessary, but he loved to attack. There were no strokes he could not play ... He was a man born to lead, but by direct methods rather than by finesse. He attacked frontally, never sought the flank. He would go straight through a difficulty. No situation was too difficult to face or to solve. The main measure was Hill’s consistency reflected in his scores above 50. By comparison with Trumper, in the same innings, Hill got 52, 80, 135, 99, 98, 97, 87, 119, 65, 51, 88, 54, 87, 160, 65 and 98. Trumper’s scores were 135 not out, 65, 62, 104, 185 not out, 74, 113, 59, 88, 63, 166, 113 and 50. It will be seen that, while Trumper made six centuries to Hill’s three, Hill went four times into the nineties and passed the half-century 16 times to Trumper’s 13. Duff hit two centuries to Hill’s one, but Hill had nine fifties to Duff’s seven. Compared to Noble, Hill showed 17 fifties to 12 and four centuries to one. When up against his fellow South Australian Darling, Hill scored 12 fifties against seven, their centuries being three apiece. Hill made 15 fifties while Gregory scored seven, and Hill scored three centuries to two. And against Armstrong Hill made 13 half-centuries to six although the big Victorian made two centuries to one. Hill played ten innings before registering his first Test century, but his memorable innings of 188 at Melbourne in 1898 averted impending defeat, and all who saw it remembered how he thrashed the superb fast bowler Richardson. At the end of that 1897-98 summer, in which he turned 21, he aggregated 452 runs at 56.50 and four years later he made 521 runs at 52.10. Another mark of Introducing Clem Hill 11