Lives in Cricket No 23 - Brief Candles

83 by one of his country’s leading poets. Yet today he is still better known as his mother’s son than in his own right as a sportsman, or an artist, or an aviator; or, indeed, as a remarkable combination of all three. The DIB refers to Yeats’ opinion that Gregory, ‘though possessing considerable talent, was dilettantish and lacked direction’. But one man’s dilettante is another’s Renaissance Man, and that is certainly how he is remembered by his admirers today: ‘a Renaissance figure whose early death might have been an illustration for the maxim that whom the gods love die young’. 143 Cricket was clearly only a very minor activity in Gregory’s life, although as a young man it was undoubtedly important to him. Had he survived the Great War, he would surely have been too old to have resumed a career at first-class level, even if the spirit had been willing – which, after his intense wartime activities, might have been doubtful. It is no bad thing that cricket- lovers remember him, if only for an unlikely bowling performance in his only first-class game. But let them never forget that that performance was just a passing moment in the life of one who deserves a fuller – and more accurate – recording and assessment of his life-story than he has been accorded in one place to date. Another Eight-For Although Robert Gregory is, for obvious reasons, the star of this chapter, we must consider also the only other Briton to take eight wickets in an innings in his only first-class match. First, here is the full list of those achieving this feat: Eight wickets in an innings in only first-class match W.Brown Tasmania v Victoria Hobart 1857/58 7-42, 8-31 H.W.Hole Nelson v Wellington Nelson 1874/75 8-37, 2-24 J.L.Bevan South Australia v Tasmania Adelaide 1877/78 6-23, 8-36 W.R.Gregory Ireland v Scotland Dublin 1912 8-80, 1-12 H.M.Hinde Minor Counties v Leveson Gower’s XI Eastbourne 1924 8-77, 1-61 V.Thambuswamy Madras v Andhra Pradesh Guntur 1967/68 1-20, 8-37 In parallel with Michael Harbottle in Chapter Four, the only Englishman in this list was a military man whose most senior cricket was played at Minor Counties level, when his other duties permitted. His was, however, a rather more orthodox military life. Again like Harbottle, Harold Montague Hinde came from a military family. Born at Southsea on 24 August 1895, he was the second of four 143 From an undated (?1982) review by Janet Madden-Smith in Books Ireland (accessible via www.colinsmythe.co.uk) of Robert Gregory 1881-1918: A Centenary Tribute . In the Wickets