Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

36 The Great All-rounder (1872-1877) 10-wicket win. Emmett took eight wickets. In 1873, Emmett’s first-class season began again with the regular games in London. Against Middlesex, he was the only Yorkshire batsman to make runs in both innings, but the county was beaten by 10 wickets. A defeat at the hands of MCC a couple of days later was all over in just an hour into the second day, Yorkshire making just 68 and 64. They did slightly better in Manchester against Lancashire, and their 98 was enough to secure a nine- wicket victory, as Emmett, with 7-29 and 4-53, and Hill, bowled the home side out cheaply. Back in London, for the Players of the North, Emmett scored 93 in the second innings, ‘a very hard-hitting innings’ according to one reporter, which ‘fully justifies my opinion of him as the best left- handed bat in England.’ The low scoring matches continued at Sheffield in June against Surrey. Emmett and Hill dismissed the visitors for 79 (Emmett 6-38), but Yorkshire were all out themselves for 54. The home bowlers then reduced Surrey to 84 all out, with Emmett adding another 6-46. He opened the batting and made 41 as Yorkshire knocked off the 110 they needed for just two wickets. Against Lancashire in the return game at Bramall Lane, Emmett, assisted this time by Clayton, bowled out the visitors for 94 and 47, taking 11 wickets in the match. He also had All-England obligations in the summer, and appeared at the Canterbury Festival, where he bowled W.G.Grace for 98 as part of his 6-94 for the North v South. Grace later got some revenge as he had Emmett lbw for 44 as the South won by 7 wickets. On 16 August 1873, Emmett hit his one and only first-class century – 104 against Gloucestershire on the College ground at Clifton. The Yorkshire side travelled overnight to the West Country from London after defeating Surrey by nine wickets. A.F.Smith, who was opening the batting for Yorkshire at the time, later told ‘Old Ebor’, ‘We had to travel at 10.5 at night to Bristol, which we reached at 6.30am. Consequently, we had not much bed, and were not in first-class trim for cricket. Seeing ‘W.G’ on the ground superintending the rolling of the wicket, the champion said, ‘Good morning, Smith; somebody will get a hundred in this match.’ I replied, ‘Very likely, perhaps yourself.’’ 26 Gloucestershire batted first and made 404, but if was G.F., rather than W.G., Grace who got 165 not out, while Emmett toiled for 50 overs without taking a wicket. W.G. gave a chance off Emmett’s bowling early on, which was not taken, but he was dismissed by Hill for 21, to the disappointment of the crowd. In reply, Yorkshire made just 182, Emmett – batting at number three – failing, and were forced to follow on. Emmett opened the second innings with Hill, and the two made fast progress, scoring 35 in the first 25 minutes. Emmett was dropped once at long-off, and then by W.G.Grace at mid-off, before the close of play came with his score on 24 not out from a total of 63-2, the batsmen having struggled to break through the tight fielding. Next morning just before noon, Emmett started by cutting Fred Grace for four and driving him for another boundary. Helped by Lockwood (30), Betts