Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

22 A man in demand (1867-1871) The state of Yorkshire cricket in the mid-1860s had led to much despair amongst supporters of the game, but in looking back on 1867, Sporting Life wrote enthusiastically of the ‘infusion of much new blood’. A key part of this was Emmett, and only a year after making his Yorkshire debut, he had become one of the noted bowlers in the country. To Sporting Life , Yorkshire’s victories in all six of its games in 1867 were ‘mainly due to the fine bowling of Emmett and Freeman, [although] that of Greenwood must not be overlooked.’ The Sheffield Independent also confidently suggested that Yorkshire had found in Emmett ‘the most destructive bowler in England’, noting that he had a bowling average of 5.36 runs per wicket. At the end of the 1860s cricket was changing at all levels. In 1868, The Sportsman reflected that batsmen appeared to be asserting their supremacy over bowling, with more large scores being recorded at all levels of cricket. The article marvelled at the progress, but added that it was hard to believe bowling had deteriorated when players such as W.G.Grace, Appleby, Buchanan, Lipscombe amongst the amateurs, and Emmett, Freeman, Tarrant, Southerton, Wootton, Willsher and James Lillywhite were flourishing. Emmett was now widely considered one of the most significant bowlers in England. The 1868 season saw Emmett sharing his time amongst a number of teams. He took 10 wickets in the low scoring one-day match for Halifax against Burnley, but also contributed just one run in two innings as Halifax were dismissed for 24 and 30. The following week, he played against Burnley again, this time for Keighley. At the end of May, he was in the Knaresborough side that took on Middlesbrough in a two-day match, and was rewarded financially for taking a hat-trick. Shortly afterwards, Emmett appeared at the Dewsbury and Savile ground in a game for the benefit of the Cambridgeshire players, Carpenter and Hayward, between All-England and the United All-England Eleven. Here, he and Freeman ran through the All-England side for 95, bowling together for the whole innings again. Emmett also appeared as a ‘given man’ in a number of games in June; firstly, for Southport against All-England, where he took 10 wickets in the match, and then for Broughton against All-England, where he and Hickton dismissed the visitors for 135, but could not prevent their side losing. In between, he appeared for the United All-England Eleven at York, taking 12 wickets in the home Twenty-Two’s first innings. These games were followed by a return to the county side against Surrey at Bramall Lane. The match proved disastrous for Yorkshire and they lost by an innings and six runs. Emmett batted at 11 in the first innings and opened in the second, but he made little impact in either position. During the game, Emmett received what appeared to be a serious injury, one of the few recorded in his career. Sporting Life reported that: Emmett, by some means or other, in the act of bowling, either twisted the ligaments or muscles, or otherwise so seriously injured his left arm (ie., his bowling arm) that he was incapacitated from taking any further part in the play, and it is a question if he will be able to bowl again for his county during the present season.