Famous Cricketers No 1 - Jack Hobbs

Hobbs, of course, had to take the brunt of responsibility as an opening batsman, and did so triumphantly. He took part in the unprecedented number of 166 opening partnerships of 100 or more, no less than 67 of them with Andrew Sandham and 40 with Tom Hayward, though his partnership with Herbert Sutcliffe was the most famous of all – a total of 26 (15 in Tests). They first came together when English Test cricket was in the doldrums, started against South Africa with partnerships of 136 and 268, and against Australia with 157,110 and 283, and made in all 15 opening stands of over 100. Hobbs was 41 when they first opened in a Test. In their 38 partnerships in Tests, they averaged 87.81, which is far higher than any other long running partnerships. In fact, the second highest is Hobbs and Rhodes at 61.31, just ahead of Lawry and Simpson for Australia on 60.95. It is often said that nobody could go on in modern Test cricket as long as Hobbs did, because he would not be able to pull his weight in the field. Hobbs never ceased to be an asset in the field, because he added great skill and ringcraft to his hard-won athleticism, and he was still luring batsman to destruction with his air of nonchalance at cover point at the end of his career. There are no reliable statistics of ground fielding, only legends – which is where we came in. JACK HOBBS John Berry (Jack) Hobbs was born at Cambridge on 16 December 1882, the eldest of twelve children of John Cooper Hobbs, a slater’s labourer, and his wife, Flora Matilda Berry. As his father became a professional at Fenner’s and later groundsman at Jesus College, cricket was immediately a central function of Jack Hobbs’s life. Although never receiving formal coaching, he would get up at six to practise on Parker’s Piece. He was educated at the local Church of England boys school and the first cricket team for which he played was that of the church choir in which he sang. Tom Hayward, who played often at Cambridge, was a particular hero of Jack Hobbs. He was partly responsible for bringing him to Surrey’s notice, and organised a benefit match to raise money for his family following the early death of his father in 1904. His promise in cricket earned him a trial with Surrey in 1903 (after Essex had ignored his application), and he was paid 30s. (£1.50) a week, £1 in winter, while he qualified by residence. In 1904 Hobbs made 696 runs in 13 innings for Cambridgeshire and Surrey, who were rebuilding after the triumphs of the 1890s, gave Hobbs an immediate opportunity as soon as he was qualified. In his first match, against the Gentlemen of England in 1905, he made 18 and 88, and was awarded his county cap when he followed this with 28 and 155 against Essex in his first Championship game, reaching the century in two hours. In September 1906 he married Ada Ellen, daughter of Edward G. Gates of Cambridge, and their first son, Jack, was born in July 1907. Two other sons, Leonard and Ivan, and a daughter, Vera, followed. In 1907 he scored 0 and 1 against Nottinghamshire, the nearest he ever came to “bagging a pair”. After three summers of consolidation under the guidance and example of Tom Hayward, his first great partner and the person who first spotted his talent, he went to Australia in 1907-08. Being a bad sailor, Hobbs took time to settle and was not picked for the first Test, but he made his debut at Melbourne scoring 83. Until his Test career ended in 1930, England never again omitted him when he was available. In 1909 he came within 81 runs of reaching a thousand in May, which he would probably have done had he not been rested against Oxford University. In this prolific month he made 205 out of 371 in 165 minutes against Hampshire, 159 out of 352 against Warwickshire, and a century in each innings in the return match at Edgbaston. Hobbs had established his authority in all English conditions, and he completed his apprenticeship when in 1909-10 he faced South Africa’s battery of spin bowlers on their native matting. The googly was a new weapon in the bowler’s armoury and many of the leading batsmen of the era had been routed by it. Hobbs admitted that he could not yet spot it from the hand, but on this tour he subdued it by going down the pitch and attacking it off the front foot. Although the series was lost, his average in the Tests was 67, the next highest being 33, and on the tour he made 1,194 runs. His mastery of spin, coupled with the bowling of S F Barnes, largely won the rubber in 6