Sir John Berry Hobbs, always known as Jack Hobbs, was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Master", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century-maker in first-class cricket, with 61,237 runs and 197 centuries. A right-handed batsman and an occasional right-arm medium pace bowler, Hobbs also excelled as a fielder, particularly in the position of cover point. Hobbs was named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century alongside Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Shane Warne, and Sir Viv Richards.
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists. Some wicket-keepers have the skills of a specialist batter and have been referred to as all-rounders, but the term wicket-keeper-batter is more commonly applied to them, even if they are substitute wicket keepers who also bowl.
Cricket is a sport that generates a variety of statistics.
John William Hearne was a Middlesex leg-spinning all-rounder cricketer who played from 1909 to 1936, and represented England in 24 Test matches between 1911 and 1926.
Wilfred Rhodes was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test matches. He holds the world records both for the most appearances made in first-class cricket, and for the most wickets taken (4,204). He completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English cricket season a record 16 times. Rhodes played for Yorkshire and England into his fifties, and in his final Test in 1930 was, at 52 years and 165 days, the oldest player who has appeared in a Test match.
Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two world wars. His first-class debut was delayed by the First World War until 1919 and his career was effectively terminated in August 1939 when he was called up for military service in the imminent Second World War. He was the first cricketer to score 16 centuries in Test match cricket. He is most famous for being the partner of Jack Hobbs and the partnership between the two, Hobbs and Sutcliffe, is widely regarded as the greatest partnership of all time.
Alfred Perry "Bunny" Lucas was an English first-class cricketer from 1874 to 1907, playing for Cambridge University, Surrey, Middlesex and Essex. He also played five Test matches for the England cricket team.
Charles George Macartney was an Australian cricketer who played in 35 Test matches between 1907 and 1926. He was known as "The Governor-General" in reference to his authoritative batting style and his flamboyant strokeplay, which drew comparisons with his close friend and role model Victor Trumper, regarded as one of the most elegant batsmen in cricketing history. Sir Donald Bradman—generally regarded as the greatest batsman in history—cited Macartney's dynamic batting as an inspiration in his cricket career.
Douglas Thomas Ring was an Australian cricketer who played for Victoria and for Australia in 13 Test matches between 1948 and 1953. In 129 first-class cricket matches, he took 426 wickets bowling leg spin, and he had a top score of 145 runs, which was the only century of his career.
Holcombe Douglas "Hopper" Read was an English cricketer who played in one Test in 1935.
William Gilbert Anthony Parkhouse was a Welsh cricketer who played in seven Tests for England in 1950, 1950–51 and 1959.
Norman Bertram Fleetwood "Tufty" Mann was a South African cricketer who played in 19 Test matches from 1947 to 1951.
Emmanuel Alfred Martindale was a West Indian cricketer who played in ten Test matches from 1933 to 1939. He was a right-arm fast bowler with a long run up; although not tall for a bowler of his type he bowled at a fast pace. With Learie Constantine, Martindale was one of the earliest in the long succession of Test-playing West Indian fast bowlers. During the time he played, the West Indies bowling attack depended largely on his success. Critics believe that his record and performances stand comparison with bowlers of greater reputation and longer careers.
John Cowie was a New Zealand cricketer who played in nine Tests from 1937 to 1949. His Test opportunities were restricted by New Zealand's limited programme, and his cricket career was interrupted by World War II from 1939 to 1945. Following the 1937 tour of England, Wisden commented: "Had he been an Australian, he might have been termed a wonder of the age."
1947 was the 48th season of County Championship cricket in England. It is chiefly remembered for the batting performances of Denis Compton and Bill Edrich who established seasonal records that, with the subsequent reduction in the number of first-class matches, will probably never be broken. Their form was key to their team Middlesex winning the County Championship for the first time since 1921, although they were involved in a tight contest for the title with the eventual runners-up Gloucestershire, for whom Tom Goddard was the most outstanding bowler of the season. Compton and Edrich were assisted by the fact that it was the driest and sunniest English summer for a generation, ensuring plenty of good batting wickets.
The New Zealand cricket team toured England in the 1949 season. The team was the fourth official touring side from New Zealand, following those in 1927, 1931 and 1937, and was by some distance the most successful to this date. The four-match Test series with England was shared, every game ending as a draw, and of 35 first-class fixtures, 14 were won, 20 drawn and only one lost.
During the five years 1928 to 1932, Herbert Sutcliffe played throughout the period for Yorkshire, continuing his highly successful opening partnership with Percy Holmes which reached its peak of achievement in 1932 when they set a then world record partnership for any wicket of 555, the stand including Sutcliffe's career highest score of 313. For England in Test cricket, Sutcliffe made his only tour of South Africa in 1927–28 and his second tour of Australia in 1928–29, during which he played arguably the greatest innings of his career. In the winter of 1930–31, he and Jack Hobbs went on a private tour of India and Ceylon which has caused some controversy in terms of their career statistics. Sutcliffe opened the innings for England throughout the period, playing in home series each season but most notably against Australia in 1930.
Bernard James Tindal Bosanquet was an English cricketer best known for inventing the googly, a delivery designed to deceive the batsman. When bowled, it appears to be a leg break, but after pitching the ball turns in the opposite direction to that which is expected, behaving as an off break instead. Bosanquet, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex between 1898 and 1919, appeared in seven Test matches for England as an all-rounder. He was chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1905.
Sir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Born into poverty in Cambridge, Hobbs displayed little distinction as a cricketer until relatively late in life. After some limited early success, he began to aspire to a career in professional cricket, and a sudden improvement in 1901 made this more likely. Following the death of his father, the whole family depended on Hobbs but he was supported by Tom Hayward, a professional cricketer who played for Surrey. Hayward arranged for Hobbs to have a trial at Surrey, and after he was successful, Hobbs spent two years qualifying to play County Cricket.
Sir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Having established himself as the best batsman in the world before the First World War, Hobbs resumed cricket in 1919 and was immediately successful in County Cricket. He successfully toured Australia with the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1920–21 but sustained an injury which affected his batting on that tour and in the subsequent English season. Also in that 1921 season, he fell seriously ill with appendicitis; the effects of the illness and subsequent operation affected his batting for several seasons and his stamina never fully recovered. When he returned from the illness, Hobbs was a far less attacking batsman than he had been in his earlier career, but was much more secure and assured. As a result, his performances were statistically better than before 1914 and his reputation among the public grew. Adulation for Hobbs reached its peak in 1925 when he broke W. G. Grace's record for most first-class centuries, and the following season he made a century in extremely difficult batting conditions which was instrumental in England winning the Ashes. At this time, he also established extremely effective opening partnerships—with Herbert Sutcliffe for England and Andy Sandham for Surrey.
