Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

126 that he ‘had a much better style than most left handers, pulling less and possessing sounder defence, whilst his driving was both clean and hard. In his early years he was fast between the wickets. In 1876, against Middlesex at Sheffield ‘he caused some excitement by the eagerness with which he piled on singles, some remarkably near runs being recorded.’ He was almost run out on one occasion, but his ‘extraordinary turn of speed’ got him to the crease just in time. Although he was always eager to steal runs, he was also wary of certain fielders, particularly Vernon Royle of Lancashire. If the ball went in his direction, Emmett was known to shout ‘Noa, I tell thee I woan’t go; it’s gone t’plaace.’ “T’plaace” [the police] always meant the spot where Royle was stationed. Others were less impressed with Emmett’s batting. One writer commented that ‘some of his strokes were so unorthodox that the purists were amazed at his indifference to appearances, for in those days it was not in accordance with the canons of the art of cricket to depart from ordinary methods.’ The same article considered that Emmett would have had little to learn from early twentieth-century batsmen about ‘cow shots’, suggesting that he would hit across the line of a full-pitched ball. He always drove with great force on the off, and once when a fieldsman at point was standing rather close Tom said to him. “If I were thee, mister, I’d stand a little further back, because when I hits there I hits adjectival hard.’ A similar story was told about Alec Bannerman, the Australian, at Harrogate on a slow, tricky wicket. I said “Alec, you are rather close in; are you married?” He said ‘No.’ ‘Oh, then, you’re all right.’ I replied. ‘It doesn’t matter if I kill you, but if you had been married I should have advised you to get a bit back.’ Popularity Given his success with bat and ball, his eccentricities and good humour, it is not surprising that Tom Emmett was popular with those who watched cricket, one of the most popular players ever. Wisden described him as ‘a prime favourite wherever he went’, whilst the Sheffield Daily Telegraph commented in 1882, that ‘Tom Emmett is one of the sterling good fellows whose success people delight in.’ He had a rare ability to shift the mood of a ground. In an article in the Sheffield Evening Telegraph in 1887, bemoaning the state of the contemporary game, the reporter complained about how dull county cricket could be. Distractions were therefore welcome and ‘What a roar of laughter Tom Emmett causes when he pretends he is going to steal a run!’ Cricket also noted that the crowd cheered when he stood in the middle of the pitch waving his bat, ‘dramatically addressing a somewhat unruly crowd in a manner which proved irresistible both to the crowd and the fieldsmen, who were in roars of laughter...He was a born actor.’ It seems Emmett was popular wherever he went and with people of all backgrounds. According to Albert Craig, the cricket rhymester, people travelled miles to watch him in 1885 (‘He’d walk’d from t’top of Personality, performance and popularity