Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

74 Emmett was certainly back in England by 13 May 1882 because he appeared for Keighley in their game at Burnley (where his appearance evoked hearty cheers), but he was unable to make the match between An England Eleven and Cambridge University on 15 May, so that a substitute had to be found. He then appeared for Yorkshire at Nottingham, having been confirmed as one of seven players who would play in all of Yorkshire’s games during the season, along with Ulyett, Lockwood, Hill, Bates, Grimshaw and Peate. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph commented proudly on the performances of the Yorkshire players in Shaw’s team, observing that the four had taken 421 wickets between them, as against 308 obtained by all the other bowlers. Not distinguishing between the individuals, the paper boasted ‘They have done well, and deserve the thanks of the county for so handsomely sustaining its reputation.’ After another tiring winter away, it was not until early June against Middlesex that Emmett found his form with the ball, and his contributions in a number of games were very limited. He was also part of a Yorkshire side which sustained a significant defeat at the hands of the Australians, a game which was witnessed by 32,000 people over the first two days. Emmett was cheered during his innings when he avoided being run out, but he was reported to have been reluctant to leave the crease when bowled by Garrett for 0. Yorkshire collapsed from 57-1 to 65-7 as the crowd encroached on the playing field so packed was the ground. It was at this point that the transition of the Yorkshire captaincy from Emmett to Hawke began. Hawke played his first game for Yorkshire in 1881 in a Festival match at Scarborough, but it was not until the following summer that he appeared against another county. According to Hawke himself, on his arrival at Bramall Lane in July 1882 for the game against Surrey, Emmett approached him and offered him the captaincy. Hawke declined saying ‘I prefer to play under you for the season and to pick up a few wrinkles.’ 53 Under Emmett, Hawke got a sense of the responsibilities he would soon take on, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the players he was to inherit. Having gained this experience, over the winter, Hawke was appointed Yorkshire captain for the 1883 season, although, already being committed to the Cambridge University team, Emmett continued to play this role on occasions. It was thus a slow transition, and in 1882 some of the Yorkshire press noted that the county side would only ‘have the occasional valuable assistance of the Hon.M.B.Hawke and Mr Sidgwick.’ Other papers were clearly ill-informed on developments, with the Hull Packet reporting that ‘There have been rumours of a possible change to the captaincy of the Yorkshire Eleven, but I don’t think there is anything in them, and Tom Emmett will, I fancy, again be skipper….it would be difficult to find a man so fitted for the position.’ Even after Hawke had assumed the role, Emmett’s influence continued, Coldham commenting: Inspired individualism, collective inconsistency and fecklessness in the field characterised the Yorkshire team that Hawke inherited from Tom Emmett. Emmett in his way was as hard a man to follow as Hawke Yorkshire Captain 1878-1883