Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

41 The Great All-rounder (1872-1877) further 10-35 in 47 overs, with 38 maidens. However, Yorkshire were in poor form with the bat and needing just 63, they were bowled out for 22 in an hour and 10 minutes. In London for three games, Emmett opened for Yorkshire against Middlesex in a fixture which ended in a draw due to long delays between innings, late starts and rain. The side then played MCC, losing by 139 runs. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph reflected afterwards that neither Hill nor Emmett were thoroughly ‘on the spot’. Perhaps Emmett’s most remarkable bowling performance of the summer came at Wakefield in a three-day match between Yorkshire and Twenty- Two of Wakefield. The local side was augmented by various county players including G.F.Grace and W.Gilbert. Yorkshire made just 92, but Emmett then bowled 49 overs for 17-66 and 40 overs for 12-45. The Sheffield Independent noted that although he had not been in his best form recently, Emmett was ‘simply unplayable’, and only Fred Grace managed double figures in the second innings. Emmett and the more famous Grace brother, W.G., saw a lot of each other during the season. In May, they were on opposite sides in the MCC v Yorkshire and North v South contests. In June, Emmett took Grace’s wicket in the North v South game at Trent Bridge, but was dismissed by him in the Gentlemen v Players game at The Oval. Emmett then took Grace’s wicket again at Huddersfield during the North v South match, although he had scored 92 by that point. Grace had Emmett caught a few days later in the Players of the North v Gentlemen of the South, and again in July in the Yorkshire v Gloucestershire match. In August, Grace dismissed Emmett twice and Emmett had Grace caught once. There were further contests at Tunbridge Wells (North v South) and Hull (North v South), with each dismissing the other once in the second game. These were just some of the 111 games which they played in together. In fact, Emmett bowled against WG on 146 occasions in first-class matches, and dismissed him on 36 occasions. Only Alfred Shaw (49) did so more often. 34 It was at this point that the possibility of another overseas tour again emerged. In early 1876, details were published of a proposed tour by English professionals to Australia the following winter, with Emmett’s name amongst those expected to be included as one of ‘the very cream of English professional bowling’. In February 1876, the agent for the side wrote to clubs in New Zealand offering to organise games there if ‘encouraging terms’ were offered. Names of possible tourists were suggested, with Emmett described as ‘the left-hander...with a nasty break and most difficult to play.’ With arrangements still to be finalised, Emmett started the home season with a Yorkshire United match against Eighteen of Halifax, where he took 10 wickets in the first innings, ‘trundling some beauties.’ He was also in the Todmorden side which played Great Harwood in the middle of the month, taking all eight wickets that fell to bowlers and making 35 with the bat. After matches in London, he joined the Yorkshire United side that crossed the Irish Sea to play a Leinster side assisted by William Caffyn, the Surrey all-rounder. Only Emmett (18) and Lockwood (33 not out)