Clem Hill's Reminiscences

Chapter Two A Matter of Luck 1 Amusing incidents on the field Clem Hill, the writer of this series of articles, was at the time he wrote them, the greatest left-hand batsman the world had known and the holder of many records. He had more runs to his credit against England in Test matches than any other Australian, and no Australian has reached his aggregate of runs in Sheffield Shield contests. He had played in 49 Test matches between 1896 and 1912. His inside story of those games had never been told. In his first article Hill leads up to his selection when still a boy, to go to England with Harry Trott’s team in 1896. I have often been asked if there is any luck in cricket. Yes, there is. If my luck had been out I might not have become a cricketer. I was lucky in the innings for my college which first brought me into prominence. It was by a stroke of good luck that I was included in my first South Australian side. My luck was still with me when I was selected to go to England for the first time – with Harry Trott’s team in 1896. There are good cricketers who have never been heard of because they had bad luck to fail at a critical moment. Bad luck must not be confused with bad play. I am the worst bowler in the world, but in four overs on the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 1900 I altered the appearance of a match. I captured two wickets with atrocious balls when South Australia seemed to be in a hopeless position. Farquhar and Kelly were in. ‘I’ll give you a crack, my boy’, Jim Kelly said to me as I was bowling to Farquhar. But he didn’t. Both of them fell victims to easy deliveries. That was not bad luck; it was bad play. South Australia won. A poor ball will often dismiss a batsman. I shall often refer to the good and bad luck of a player in Test matches and to incidents like those on the Sydney ground which changed the fortunes of a Test match in a surprising manner. They are part of the story which I hope to tell – the story behind the scenes, as it were, of the 41 Tests in which I played in 16 years 1 . The humorous remarks of the players in the dressing room, in the grandstand, and on the field, the comments of wicket-keepers and umpires, the excitement, the wiles of captains, the mannerisms of the giants – these are what I shall bring within the scope of this series. 14 1 Hill obviously discounts his eight Tests against South Africa in 1902 and 1910/11.