Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

65 expectations. They were also impressed by the quality of hotels and the facilities available. The side travelled to and from New York on the City of Richmond , and the players presented Daft with a gold pencil case, with Emmett and Shaw thanking the promoters of the tour. 46 A dinner was later held in Huddersfield for the Yorkshire players, where Emmett thanked those present for their enthusiastic toasts. Looking back, Daft recalled the trip to Niagara Falls. Here Emmett, who had seen a snake just before, took off his boots and socks. Ulyett then filled his socks with snails and worms, and replaced them without Emmett seeing. After a while: Emmett dried his feet and began to get into his socks. On account of their being a bit wet he had first some difficulty in doing this, but at last his feet shot down into the collection of reptiles which the sock contained. Tom, I feel sure, thought it was another snake, and yelled like anything, and it was some time before he was able to get his foot at liberty and see what it was that had bitten him, as he thought. Back home, at the start of the 1880 season the search for new talent for Yorkshire County Cricket Club continued, the county side taking on a team of Yorkshire Colts in May. Although the bowlers were not considered up to much, several batsmen caught the eye, with Irwin Grimshaw particularly impressing the Sheffield Independent . The same paper was also pleased that established names like Emmett, Ulyett and Lockwood were in ‘such capital form’. As captain, Emmett was now able to deploy an increasingly effective bowling partnership in Peate and Bates. The two men took 12 wickets between them against Middlesex, all 10 in the first innings against both Kent and the Australians at Dewsbury, 18 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in June and 15 against Kent. In August, they bowled Derbyshire out for 26 and took all 19 wickets in the match which fell to bowlers. Peate took 14 wickets himself against Lancashire, and together the pair secured another 17 against Nottinghamshire in the return game. As a result, Emmett had one of the least productive seasons with the ball of his whole career – taking just 43 wickets in first-class cricket. It seemed possible that his career as one of Yorkshire’s great bowlers might be coming to an end as a new generation took over. In contrast, with the bat, Emmett had one of his better seasons, nearly doubling his average of 1879 and batting in ‘most dashing form’ according to one observer. His highest score came against Surrey in June where it was reported that he ‘set his men a good example with a brilliant score of 68 – one of the best he has ever played’. During this match he also turned to Pinder to break a partnership, being ‘at his wit’s end’, and after a few overs of his lobs the wicket-keeper succeeded in taking a wicket. At Sheffield in July, Emmett was top scorer against Lancashire with 51, and ‘secured the talent money by cutting Mr Steel’s eighth ball for one, made into two by an overthrow.’ Shortly afterwards, he was stumped ‘after a splendid display of careful and painstaking batting’, although the decision was evidently ‘unpalatable’ to Tom. It was the first time in a season he had scored over 700 runs in all first-class matches, and only in 1881 would he Yorkshire Captain 1878-1883