Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

103 event was held for Emmett by what were described as his ‘Rugby friends.’ A dinner was held at the Exchange Hotel in Leicester where he was presented with the results of a subscription – 25 new sovereigns direct from the Mint, along with a malacca cane with an ivory handle and silver mount with an inscription. His engagement at Leicestershire County Cricket Club was confirmed again for 1899, and the club’s fortunes seemed to be on the up. Emmett’s impact on the club’s performance was clearly noticed, one reporter commenting, ‘Leicestershire are a very different side to the one that shared the wooden spoon with Somerset last season. The coaching of Tom Emmett, the famous old Yorkshireman, has worked wonders.’ Unsurprisingly, Emmett was a demonstrative and vocal coach. Fred Root later described his methods as ‘fiery, blunt and thorough’, as well as ‘military’, and said his instructions were ‘entirely free of false praise’. He added that some of his remarks made the regular county bowlers ‘wilt with shame’ when they decided to fool around in the nets. He would berate them that they ‘couldn’ bowl a houp, no’an on yer, and until yo’ can you’ll get noa time for thy bread and cheese and ‘arf a pint, not if thou ‘as to stop here all neeight.’ He also threatened to bring his daughters down and see if they could shape up better, and if not, he would send them [his girls] back to Yorkshire for more practice. 70 Emmett clearly embraced the responsibilities at Leicestershire, not being afraid to introduce innovations. According to one who experienced his coaching (A.E.Knight), he did his work with ‘a rare and effervescent joy’. One novelty was a boarded wicket he had made for the players. It was a strongly framed and ledged arrangement, about 16 yards by 2½ yards of one inch flooring screwed to two inch battens. It was let into the ground and covered with matting. The writer noted that it presented ‘a glorious surface for the exploitation of that delightful ‘push’ stroke whose perfect execution would invariably send the veteran into ecstasy.’ However, one year it was used in the spring when the weather was not so good, and being unpopular with some of the young cricketers, it was allowed to rot in the ground. It was around this time that Emmett appears to have played his final games. On 7 June 1899, he made up the numbers for Leicestershire Second XI against Ashby Hastings, scoring 7 not out, including a drive to the boundary. Despite the move to Leicester, he kept in touch with his friends in Rugby and played for Rugby Ramblers on their tour of North Wales in the summer of 1899. He took a couple of wickets at Llandudno in the middle of August, but did not play in two other games. Shortly after, a T.Emmett – possibly Tom given the report noted that his opponents could do very little against his bowling – appeared in a match in Halifax, perhaps on his way to act as umpire at Scarborough. If it was Tom Emmett this was would have been a very tidy ending given where he began his life, because it was for a Dean Clough factory side. In the absence of any evidence of appearances in 1900, this was perhaps the conclusion of his playing days. He left the field, aged nearly 58, fittingly with stories of his life filling the papers as a result of the appearance at the time of books by W.G.Grace The later years (1889-1904)