Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

45 The Great All-rounder (1872-1877) delivers the ball from the outside of the return crease, and his body is in such a peculiar position when the ball is sent from his arm that the batsman finds he is bowled before he knows where he is. Emmett generally comes in from the leg, but bowling on a siding he puts on the opposite break. He will prove one of the most dangerous bowlers in the team. The side played its first game in Australia on 16 November at the Oval in Adelaide in front of an estimated 8,000 people. The match was against a South Australia Twenty-Two and considerable preparation had taken place for the event, with the pavilion extended, a new luncheon-room added, and a telegraph wire carried to the ground. Once under way, Shaw with 56 overs and Emmett with 43 overs did the bulk of the bowling, and they dismissed the home side for 54 in 112 overs, Emmett taking 6-14, but Shaw capturing 14 wickets for 12 runs. One report stated that Emmett, although ‘not well on the wicket, was very difficult to play’, and an unnamed player - ‘One of the Twelve’ - commented that Emmett ‘though not bowling well, at least kept the runs down, occasionally getting a wicket with one of his peculiars, which get quickly across from leg to the off stump’. Another local reporter considered that Emmett ‘appeared to be more feared by the batsmen than any other man in the team’, despite the fact that Shaw got the bulk of the wickets. Emmett bowled 17 maidens out of 18 overs at one stage, but he was described as ‘erratic’, and it was pointed out that ‘he was not well on the wicket; indeed he did not appear to be in his best form, some of the balls going wide’. Following on, the local side made 53, with Emmett again taking six wickets despite bowling An Australian portrait of the England touring team. Emmett is second from the left at the back. (Australian Trove)