John William Hitch (7 May 1886 – 7 July 1965) was a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played for

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. A Lancastrian, Hitch was bowling for a club in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

when he was spotted by Surrey's batsman

Tom Hayward Thomas Walter Hayward (29 March 1871 – 19 July 1939) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Surrey and England between the 1890s and the outbreak of World War I. He was primarily an opening batsman, noted especially for the qual ...

and recommended to

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

. From his debut in 1907, he quickly established himself as one of the fastest bowlers in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

, and his rumbustious lower-order batting and general enthusiasm made him a favourite with the crowds. In 1908 he took 58 wickets including 13 in a remarkably heavy win against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

at the Oval, but it was not until the latter part of 1910 that Hitch entered the public eye. His aggressive hitting brought him such innings as 74 against Middlesex on a difficult wicket, whilst at Northampton he made 54 and took 9 for 101 - bowling unchanged with

Razor Smith William Charles "Razor" Smith (4 October 1877 – 15 July 1946) was a Surrey slow bowler. Nicknamed "Razor" because of his extreme thinness, Smith was a frail man and prone to serious injury; he could rarely get through a full season's cricke ...

throughout both innings apart from one over. However, it was Hitch's brilliant close catching that garnered the critics' attention and helped Smith to a bag of wickets unrivalled for Surrey except by Tom Richardson in his great days between 1893 and 1897. Bill_Hitch_1921

In the abnormally dry summer of 1911, Hitch was the third-highest wicket-taker in England (with 151) but it was generally felt he should have done better and was not as accurate as a top-class bowler should be. Nonetheless, Hitch toured

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1911-12 and played for England both then and during the

1912 Triangular Tournament The 1912 Triangular Tournament was a Test cricket competition played between Australia, England and South Africa, the only Test-playing nations at the time. The ultimate winners of the tournament were England, with four wins in their six matches ...

. He also played Tests against

Warwick Armstrong Warwick Windridge Armstrong (22 May 1879 – 13 July 1947) was an Australian cricketer who played 50 Test matches between 1902 and 1921. An all-rounder, he captained Australia in ten Test matches between 1920 and 1921, and was undefeated, winn ...

's all-conquering

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) an ...

both home and away in 1920-21 and 1921. But in seven matches Hitch took only 11 wickets, and his most notable achievement was an innings of 51 in just 40 minutes at The Oval in 1921. 1912 - a summer in which fast bowlers generally had an impossible task just to get a foothold - saw Hitch against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

at Leyton produce some of the fastest and most difficult bowling in the history of the game - probably at a speed of around . In 1913, Hitch improved his accuracy enough to take 174 wickets, including seven hauls of ten in a match, and be a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

for 1914. He maintain this form in 1914 and 1919 but fell off as a bowler afterwards as he lost some of his terrific speed, but compensated in 1921 by scoring over a thousand runs at an average over thirty. His batting feats included 74 in 35 minutes against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

and his highest score of 107 against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

in 1922 was made in just 70 minutes. As well as being a superb bowler and dangerous batsman, he was a brilliant fielder, especially at short leg. After retiring in 1925, Hitch played Lancashire League cricket for four years before becoming coach at

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

. He also served as a first-class

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

during this period.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hitch, Bill 1886 births 1965 deaths England Test cricketers Surrey cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year English Test cricket umpires English cricketers Players cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers People from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Players of the South cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers L. H. Tennyson's XI cricket team Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers P. F. Warner's XI cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club Australian Touring Team cricketers