Brain Teazer

[Glamorgan Wanderer]

Victor Trumper?

[Goatman]

Originally Posted by Glamorgan Wanderer

Victor Trumper?

Nope.

I've got to go home now, but a bag of Engelse drops and an Albert Heijn stroopwafeltje to the first to get it!

[David W]

Is it G.J Bonnor?

[Zainub]

No this is not another question. Just something I wanted to share with everyone.
From cricket info's All of Today's Yesteryears


September 30 down the years: 1869 - Birth of the original chucker : Birth of the first man to be no-balled in a Test for throwing. Australian Ernie Jones was a fearsome fast bowler who took 64 wickets in his 19 Tests and took England apart at Lord's in 1899. Legend also has it that he bowled a short one that passed through WG Grace's beard in response to derisory comments from the Doctor. Jones was first called for throwing against England at Melbourne in 1897-98. After that there were repeated murmurings about his action, but in the Wisden Almanack Sir Stanley Jackson, the former England captain, described such aspersions as "absolutely absurd". Jones died in Adelaide in November 1943.

[Goatman]

Originally Posted by David W

Is it G.J Bonnor?

Quite right that man! Your prize is in the post!

Big George, reputed to be the hardest hitter of a cricket ball ever to pick up a bat, may have played his last test in 1888, but his memory is clearly still with us!

The story is that Gilbert Jessop continually tried, but never succeeded, in recreating this mans power-play. And when you consider that Jessops big test scores were made at (from a Goat-o-matic back-of-the-envelope calculation) nearly three times the speed of Andrew Flintoffs (!) you get an idea of G.J. Bonnors approach to batting!

[David W]

Originally Posted by Goatman

Big George, reputed to be the hardest hitter of a cricket ball ever to pick up a bat, may have played his last test in 1888, but his memory is clearly still with us!

The story is that Gilbert Jessop continually tried, but never succeeded, in recreating this mans power-play. And when you consider that Jessops big test scores were made at (from a Goat-o-matic back-of-the-envelope calculation) nearly three times the speed of Andrew Flintoffs (!) you get an idea of G.J. Bonnors approach to batting!

I think in Bonnors day you had to hit the ball clean out of the ground to be awarded six, though i am not sure when this was changed to merely clearing a boundary rope. I have a book which states that Jessops first-class centuries were scored at 82.7 runs per hour though maybe comparative scoring rates are deceptive as the over rate was much greater.

[Goatman]

Originally Posted by David W

I think in Bonnors day you had to hit the ball clean out of the ground to be awarded six, though i am not sure when this was changed to merely clearing a boundary rope. I have a book which states that Jessops first-class centuries were scored at 82.7 runs per hour though maybe comparative scoring rates are deceptive as the over rate was much greater.

Thats quite right, I think, on all counts. He was a big feller from I have heard, and he must have been able to hit the ball incredibly hard! My back of the envelope calculation (which I have now lost ) was that Jessop scored about 3 times faster than Flintoff per hour. Over rates have declined by about 1/4 to 1/3 (I think thats right) to that means, per ball, he was scoring at about twice the rate per ball. Over rates would have had to decline to 1/3 of the eariler rate for fred to match Jessop ball for ball, and that certainly hasn't happened.

[Notts Exile]

The thing with Fred is that he now actually thinks about the game (Windies at Lord's 1st innings excluded) and therefore doesn't try to smash the cover off the ball from word "go". If Jessop had had to put up with RdT then maybe he would have played differently!

[David W]

[quote=Goatman] He was a big feller from I have heard, and he must have been able to hit the ball incredibly hard!

Six foot six according to Cricinfo. By the standards of the 1880s gigantic.
Regarding scoring rates, do you think it was a more aggresive game or perhaps it was just a pragmatic response to the seemingly poor state of the pitches? Perhaps the thinking was "its only a matter of time before I get an unplayable delivery".

I tend to think you can only draw comparisons between contemporaries. I read once that when Grace completed his hundred hundreds the next best total was about thirty! Makes you wonder if he is given quite the credit he deserves as a batsman.

[Goatman]

[quote=David W]

Originally Posted by Goatman

I tend to think you can only draw comparisons between contemporaries. I read once that when Grace completed his hundred hundreds the next best total was about thirty! Makes you wonder if he is given quite the credit he deserves as a batsman.

You are, of course, totally right. But that sort of talk really isn't much fun!

From my experience of playing on variable and dodgy pitches, you really do have to start looking to throw the bat if its jagging around. Boshing a lucky 30 can turn the game if the innings par is about 150. I suspect that people like Bonnor (who diddn't have a high average - 17ish) got into the team because, in those days, he really could turn a game with a few quickfire runs. Jessop was most famous for not letting the ball bouce unless it was too short to hit the stumps, and giving it an absolute heave if it was. If the ball is misbehaving badly, you could actually see that as a defensive tactic! If it can't bounce, it can't jag or keep low. All you have to do is make sure it beats the field!

As for WG, that does rather put him in perspective!