Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

124 course of an over or two, he could get the measure of a batsman’, even when younger bowlers were struggling. Frequently, however, Emmett was wayward and erratic. He had a reputation for bowling a lot of wides, highly unusual for a top-class player. W.G.Grace commented that ‘As a rule, when Tom went on to bowl he sent down two or three wides – not doubtful wides, but thoroughly out- and-out, unquestionable, glaring wides. This was generally called ‘Tom’s preliminary canter,’ and Tom’s colleagues smiled at the eccentricity, because they knew that any moment he might send down a ball which it would pass the power of any batsman to play.’ 100 The common saying was that he bowled a wide and then took a wicket. There was though a rationale for such inaccuracy, because as Emmett explained, ‘I have a partiality to balls off the wicket, and I think my analysis is not complete without a few wides. You see, I want catches, and that is why I send them down; it’s not because I cannot bowl straight. My wides are so tempting that many a careful batsman takes them on, and he is caught.’ In one story, when he bowled a wide in his first over in a match, George Ulyett remonstrated with him. Emmett replied that ‘That’s diplomatics, George, to tickle him into confidence’, and next ball uprooted the batsman’s off- stump, breaking in at least six inches. Some thought that Emmett was indulged by umpires, with W.G.Grace commenting that: Tom Emmett bowled more wides which were not called by the umpire than any man I have ever played with. He invariably bowled on the off side for catches, but in his first over he never seemed to know where he was going to send the ball. Sometimes his first two or three deliveries would be yards wide of the wicket, but every now and then he put in a ball which was absolutely unplayable. 101 Others found his approach inexplicable and annoying. Commenting on his bowling for Yorkshire against Cambridge University in 1880, one observer noted ‘Whether it was vexation or downright carelessness I don’t know, but Emmett made an awful mess of it to start with.’ The Sportsman also expressed some frustration with Emmett in 1870. Making a comparison with his partner George Freeman, the paper commented that Emmett, ‘when on the spot – which is, unhappily, a comparatively rare occurrence – delivers the most difficult ball of any bowler of the age, is so inconsistent as hardly to warrant a comparison with his brother Yorkshireman.’ Others were exasperated but could not get through to Emmett. One story went that Lord Hawke asked ‘Tom, do you know how many wides you have bowled, this year?’ ‘No, my lord: how many?’ was the reply. ‘Forty-five’ answered his lordship. ‘Good’, promptly remarked Tom, ‘Give me the ball and I’ll soon earn talent money.’ He bowled 55 that year.’ Yet Emmett could be devastating, and he has frequently described as ‘unplayable’. Grace again wrote ‘He has one impossible ball. It pitched between the batsman’s legs and the wicket, and breaking towards the off, it would just displace the bails. Tom almost invariably got my wicket when Personality, performance and popularity