Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

11 Early days (1841-1866) Having started working in his early teenage years, Emmett’s enthusiasm for the game continued. He later said that he and his friends would forget to eat dinner due to playing cricket, and would ‘scout for hours in hopes that men who were practising would eventually let them bowl a little at the nets.’ He also continued to play in the road with friends. It was there that he was noticed by a Mark Chapman of Illingworth (who was the host of the White Lion public house in the village), and in around 1858, he was asked to play with the Illingworth village club, which was run by Chapman and local manufacturer, Thomas Taylor. The men paid his subscription to play and, according to Emmett, this ‘made me feel inches taller in about half a minute.’ As Emmett put it, ‘This was, indeed, promotion, and I used to work like a horse at my cloth dressing, so as to be able to get off a little sooner.’ He started by bowling under-hand, but was encouraged to bowl round-arm and initially bowled very straight. Experience of being easily knocked around in an Illingworth Feast match against Thornton then made Emmett think about giving ‘a bias to the ball one way or another, and by persevering found that I could make it break back a bit.’ He also remembered that his practice time was ‘very limited, and could only be obtained at the expense of my tea half-hour, but still I put in all the time I could after working at my trade from five o’clock in the morning to half- past seven at night.’ In the late 1850s, Emmett played for the Illingworth Club on many occasions, although like most of the clubs of the time, it did not have a full fixture list. He was therefore able to appear for a number of teams in local cricket in the Halifax area, possibly accepting whatever offers matched with his availability. In June 1859, for example, he was very effective for Illingworth against Halifax United, taking four wickets in the first innings and seven in the second, including dismissing five opponents for ducks. He also played (on a Monday) in September for Illingworth against a Bradford team. The same summer, he played for Ovenden Cricket Club, and the following year, for King Cross against Keighley, when his score of 18 was ‘much admired’ and he took five wickets. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, he also appeared for Halifax United, which was in a prosperous state despite lacking much local support. As was the case in many parts of the county in the middle of the century, club cricket in Halifax saw many ups and downs. There is evidence of the game in the 1830s and 1840s, and interest was further stimulated in the 1850s by the visits of the touring sides in the surrounding area, as All- England took on Huddersfield and Bradford district teams. The Halifax Clarence club had been the foremost club in the district since the 1830s, but 20 years later struggled to keep going. 8 Thereafter, the game went into decline in the town, although in 1856, the Halifax Trinity Cricket Club ‘started inauspiciously’ on Skircoat Moor. In 1862, this club moved to a new rented ground on King Cross Street and became the main club in the town. A considerable amount of land was levelled and re-laid with good turf, and ‘a suitable pavilion and covered shed’ erected for members, so that the club that Emmett joined was on the up. As the local paper put it, for the first time in its history, Halifax boasted a ‘very beautiful and