Emmott Robinson

Emmott Robinson (16 November 1883 at Keighley, Yorkshire – 17 November 1969 at Hinckley, Leicestershire) was a famous Yorkshire cricketer from 1919 to 1931. He was awarded his county cap in 1920. Robinson was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm fast-medium pace.

He is remembered as a distinctive Yorkshire character with a dry sense of humour and a solid sense of purpose. Sir Neville Cardus often wrote about him with great affection in his newspaper articles, frequently referring to him as "the old Emmott". This was not an unfair description for Robinson did not make his first-class debut until the 1919 season, when cricket resumed in England after the First World War. Robinson was already 35 by then and yet he continued playing until 1931 when he was 47. Cardus imagined that the Lord one day gathered together a heap of Yorkshire clay, and breathed into it, saying, "Emmott Robinson, go on and bowl at the pavilion end for Yorkshire". Robinson himself had a different take on his spawning: "I reckon Mr Cardus invented me." Cardus was renowned for his fanciful embroidery, keener on what "should" have been said than what really was.

Although he was not himself an outstanding individual player (he never played for England), he was a great team player and he was always regarded as "Wilfred's lieutenant", a reference to his role as Yorkshire's second senior professional behind the legendary Wilfred Rhodes. Many of the anecdotes and remembered incidents about Rhodes and Robinson make clear that Rhodes was the "de facto" captain of Yorkshire at this time, despite the club's policy of always appointing an amateur gentleman as "nominal" captain. Robinson, perforce, was the "de facto" vice-captain.

One oft-quoted anecdote, first recorded by Cardus, concerned Yorkshire's 1926 captain, Major Arthur Lupton, who started padding up after a wicket fell. Robinson reportedly said to him: "Tha's no need to pad up, Major. Wilfred's declaring at t'end o' t'over."

The arrangement worked well for this was one of Yorkshire's most successful periods. In the 13 seasons that Emmott Robinson played for the first team, Yorkshire won the County Cricket Championship six times and were rarely out of contention. He was an intense competitor and was known to brood, only half in jest, on lost matches decades after stumps had been drawn.

In his first-class career, Robinson played in 416 matches. He scored 9,744 runs in 460 innings (78 not out) at 25.50 with a highest score of 135*. He made 7 centuries and 48 fifties and twice scored over a thousand runs in a season, 1,104 in 1921 and 1,097 in 1929, topping 900 on three occasions. He was a good fielder who took 322 catches. He was a very effective change bowler, taking 902 wickets at 22.04 which is a commendable average. His best analysis was 9/36. He took five wickets in an innings 36 times and 10 wickets in a match on 5 occasions. He took 100 wickets in a season once: 113 in 1928. He took 96 in 1923.

Jack Hobbs, thought by many to be the best opening batsman in history, said Emmott Robinson was the best swing bowler he had ever seen. Robinson was certainly protective of the new ball. If some fielder was rash enough to return it to the keeper on the bounce, a wail of "Nay, nay!" could be heard from a wincing Emmott.

After his retirement from the playing arena, Robinson became a first class umpire. Emmott Robinson was a nephew of Wilfred Flowers, the former Nottinghamshire and England player.

References

External source

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/32/32430/32430.html CricketArchive]

Further reading

* Neville Cardus, "Second Innings", Collins, 1950
* Neville Cardus, "The Roses Matches 1919 - 1939", Collins, 1982
* J M Kilburn, A Century of Yorkshire County Cricket, Yorkshire Post, 1963