Tom Emmett

Infobox Historic Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = Eng
name = Tom Emmett
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Left-hand bat (LHB)
bowling style = Round-arm left-arm fast
tests = 7
test runs = 13
test bat avg = 13.33
test 100s/50s = 0/0
test top score = 48
test balls = 728
test wickets = 9
test bowl avg = 31.55
test 5s = 1
test 10s = 0
test best bowling = 7/68
test catches/stumpings = 9/0
FCs = 426
FC runs = 9,053
FC bat avg = 14.84
FC 100s/50s = 1/24
FC top score = 104
FC balls = 60,303
FC wickets = 1,572
FC bowl avg = 13.55
FC 5s = 122
FC 10s = 29
FC best bowling = 9/23
FC catches/stumpings = 276/0
debut date = 15 March
debut year = 1877
last date = 14 March
last year = 1882
source = http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/6/6.html

Thomas ("Tom") Emmett (3 September 1841–30 June 1904) was one of the finest bowlers in English cricket in the late 1860s, the 1870s and the early 1880s. Emmett was an extremely popular professional, with a cheery nature, inexhaustible energy and a florid nose, making him a huge favourite wherever he went.

Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, Emmett first joined Yorkshire when almost 25 as a professional fast left-arm bowler with a near roundarm action, though in his later years he took to bowling slow-medium. Once discovered, however, Emmett climbed almost immediately to the top of the cricketing tree, playing for England against Surrey & Sussex in Tom Lockyer's benefit match at the Oval in 1867, his second season. An even greater bowler, George Freeman, was approaching his best at the same time, and, from 1867 to the end of 1871, they dominated the English bowling scene. After 1871, however, business commitments took Freeman away from first-class cricket, but Emmett stayed on and found another able colleague in the excellent Allen Hill. In later years, Emmett shared the Yorkshire bowling duties with George Ulyett, Billy Bates, Ted Peate and Bobby Peel. He called his most famous delivery the "sostenuter": after pitching on leg the ball would break back a long way to take the off-stump. As time went on, Emmett's pace deserted him, but he made up for it by developing into a clever bowler full of device and untiring in effort.

Emmett toured Australia three times and North America once. He played seven Test matches, including the first-ever in 1877, and was also the bowling mainstay for Lord Harris's team in 1878/9. Emmett captained Yorkshire between 1878 and 1882, ending his connection with the eleven in 1888.

Emmett married a woman named Grace, three years his junior, and had four daughters (Clara, Frances, Evelyn and Edith) and two sons, (Arthur, who went on to play for Leicestershire in 1902, and Albert). He died in Leicester in 1904.

References

* [http://content.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/12518.html Cricinfo page on Tom Emmett]
* [http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/6/6.html CricketArchive page on Tom Emmett]
* [http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Articles/0/695.html A profile of Thomas Emmett by Don Ambrose]

External links

* [http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Articles/0/238.html A profile of Tom Emmett by Dave Liverman]