Edward Clark (cricketer)

Infobox Historic Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = ENG
name = Nobby Clark
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Left-hand bat
bowling style = Left-arm fast
tests = 8
test runs = 36
test bat avg = 9.00
test 100s/50s = -/-
test top score = 10
test balls = 1931
test wickets = 32
test bowl avg = 28.09
test 5s = 1
test 10s = -
test best bowling = 5/98
test catches/stumpings = -/-
FCs = 338
FC runs = 1971
FC bat avg = 6.25
FC 100s/50s = -/-
FC top score = 30
FC balls = 60997
FC wickets = 1208
FC bowl avg = 21.49
FC 5s = 63
FC 10s = 15
FC best bowling = 8/59
FC catches/stumpings = 102/-
debut date = 17 August
debut year = 1929
last date = 18 August
last year = 1934
source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/10739.html

Edward Winchester 'Nobby' Clark (born 9 August 1902, Elton, Huntingdonshire, died 28 April 1982, King's Lynn, Norfolk) was a Northamptonshire cricketer of the inter-war period during which they were one of the weakest counties ever to play in the County Championship. Nonetheless, Clark, a bowler of genuine pace who could swing the ball in and make it break away to produce catches in the slips, was regarded in his prime as one of the best fast bowlers in England. he could also bowl, as Bill Voce did under Jardine, to a leg-side field, but was never as effective doing so despite his beautiful action.

At his best, "Nobby" Clark was the fastest professional bowler apart from Harold Larwood and his beautiful action enabled him to stand up to the considerable spells of work required of him given that Northamptonshire had little support in the field apart from Fred Bakewell at short leg.

However, his fiery temperament that would get angry over even slight problems like broken footholds or missed chances made Clark's appeal to selectors for Test and other representative matches. His extreme weakness as a batsman - he never made more than 30 in a first-class innings (and even that score was against extremely weak bowling) and between July 1925 and June 1927 played "sixty-five innings without reaching double figures" - further reduced his chances of competing with players who were much better bats and could bowl almost as well.

Clark was born near Peterborough and first played for Northamptonshire as a teenager in 1922 after success in Yorkshire League cricket, but at this stage he was only a medium-pace bowler of "promise". It was 1925, when he took eleven wickets in a surprise win over Kent and was in the top twenty of the national averages that "Nobby" became viewed as one of the leading contenders for a Test berth in the following year's Ashes series. He showed himself developing from a medium-paced bowler to one capable of genuinely fast pace and also showed he had considerable intelligence and skill for a man of his speed. However, with the summer of 1926 distinctly wet, "Nobby" was never in the running despite bowling extremely well for Northamptonshire, most particularly against Kent at Dover.

In the following summer, Clark played in the Test Trial, but with Larwood, Tate and Geary established as the front-line pace bowlers, Clark would never have had a chance of going on the 1928/1929 Ashes tour, and as it turned out a very poor season due to injury kept him out of the running long before the team was selected.

1929, however, saw "Nobby" bounce right back to miss 150 wickets by only one and play his first Test at Kennington Oval, where he was criticised for overdoing leg-theory. The extreme financial difficulties faced by Northamptonshire - at one point the club was poised to exit the first-class arena - caused "Nobby" Clark to leave in July 1930 for league cricket. He returned to the county in 1932 but did nothing sensational.

However, with Larwood completely incapacitated and Voce seemingly sacrificing his bowling to make runs, Clark in early 1933 bowled as fast and as well as he ever had done. In the first match against the touring West Indians he took ten for 61 and in his first six matches 52 wickets for 574 runs. However, after that he was affected by injury but he still took eleven wickets in his two Tests and was chosen for the first Test-playing tour of India that winter.

1934 was again plagued by injury, but "Nobby" was still thought so highly of that he played in two Tests against Australia. At Old Trafford he bowled well on one of the most docile of pitches but had no luck, but in the last Test at the Oval he took five for 98 including the valuable scalps of Brown, Ponsford, McCabe and Kippax. He also failed twice by the narrowest of margins to bowl Don Bradman.

1935 saw "Nobby" play a lone hand with his bowling for a Northamptonshire side growing weaker and weaker by the year: they lost thirteen consecutive matches in the second half of the season, in several of which "Nobby"'s bowling gave them the upper hand only for feeble batting to ruin their advantage. He would have played in the Old Trafford Test against the South Africans but for yet another injury, but, though he bowled well in an unfavourably wet summer in 1936, his age was already making it hard to maintain speed beyond a few overs and he was never considered for a Test place.

It was still a surprise, though, when Clark in 1937 declined so much apart from one haul of six for 29 against Essex that Northamptonshire, already so weak that they had not won any of their last 71 county matches, decided not to re-engage him. Though he was forty-three, Northamptonshire surprisingly re-engaged "Nobby" after the war in 1946 and he showed himself still the fastest bowler for four or five overs in England. he was, however, quite naturally unable to bowl any long spell and consequently he did nothing exceptional. 1947 saw him play about half the matches before he retired for good as Northamptonshire's greatest-ever wicket-taker.

External links

* [http://www.pcboard.com.pk/Archive/Players/0/517/f_Bowling_by_Season.html First-Class bowling averages]