Lives in Cricket No 23 - Brief Candles

88 though curiously, neither Mike nor Satan is included in the otherwise similarly-worded notice in the Daily Telegraph . He is also referred to as ‘Satan’ Hinde in his obituary in The Waggoner . However this nickname came about, it should not be taken at face value as an indicator of Hinde’s character. Forceful and a strict disciplinarian, certainly. But also a man who was loyal to his Corps and his friends, and devoted to his duty; who was ‘one of the Corps’ more celebrated personalities, [who] always created a team spirit and got the best out of those serving under him through his personality. A leader in the true sense of the word’; and who had ‘a sympathetic and kindly nature which made him beloved by all who served under him.’ 150 But not, perhaps, by all those who had to face his fast bowling. Three in a row OK, so six bowlers have taken eight in an innings on debut and never played first-class cricket again. But only one can claim to have taken a hat- trick in his only match at this level. Northamptonshire’s fixture against the touring side fromDublin University in July 1925 was seen by the county club as an opportunity to try out a few new players, and to give a rest to some of their Championship regulars. Of the eleven who took the field on the first day of the game, three were making their first-class debuts, two others had three first- class appearances between them, another had seven, and even the captain only had 14. Among the relative newcomers were two bowlers from the Kettering Town club: Edgar Towell, who had played a single first-class match for the county in 1923, and debutant Dick Wooster . 151 Wooster, christened Reginald but always known as Dick, was a Kettering man from first to last. He was born there on 19 January 1903, lived all his life there, and died there on 12 September 1968, aged only 65. For many years between the wars he was a stalwart of the Kettering Town club, principally as a medium-paced bowler, though he made the occasional good score with the bat too. The club history 152 refers to the 1920s as ‘flourishing years indeed’, and names Wooster as one of the dominant players of the era, along with the many members of the Wright family, 153 Edgar Towell, George Johnson (who played 18 matches for Northamptonshire between 1922 and 1932) and John Lamb (who had 38 county matches in the thirties). 150 Quotations taken from The Waggoner ’s reports of his retirement and, later, his death. 151 Another member of the Northants side was Norman Bowell, who had made his first-class debut for Hampshire the previous season alongside Fred Hyland (qv). 152 Peter Larcombe, A Century of Cricket at Kettering: 1885-1985 , Kettering Town CC, 1985. 153 Nine different cricketers with the surname Wright made their debuts for Northamptonshire between 1919 and 1923. Seven were made up of two sets of brothers (cousins to each other), all from Kettering. The other two were also brothers, from Northampton, but they were not related to the ‘Kettering Seven’. In the Wickets