Denys Vyvian Hill (13 April 1896 – 15 May 1971), nicknamed Hooky Hill, was an English

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 officia ...

er who played 42 matches in the 1920s. Most of these (28) were in county cricket for

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, but he also appeared at first-class level for the Gentlemen,

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Will ...

, North of England and

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC). He made his debut for the Army at

Fenner's Fenner's is Cambridge University Cricket Club's ground. History Cambridge University Cricket Club had previously played at two grounds in Cambridge, the University Ground and Parker's Piece. In 1846, Francis Fenner leased a former cherry orchard ...

, in a drawn match against Cambridge University, at the end of May 1922; he claimed the solitary wicket of Cambridge

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

Dar Lyon. Two further Army appearances that summer produced one more wicket in each of his four bowling innings, while a single match for

in 1923 brought him 2-65; he did not score more than 5 in any of his six visits to the crease during those two seasons. Hill was then out of the first-class game for several years, returning in 1926 for one unproductive match (no wickets; no runs) for the Army against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. The main part of his cricketing career commenced the next year, when he began to play for Worcestershire. His

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

debut, versus

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 ...

in early May 1927, brought him a first-innings haul of 4–139, though Worcestershire lost the game by an innings. A fortnight later he recorded a career-best return of 6–59 against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, hitting 31 from number eleven for good measure, though again his county were defeated. He ended 1927 with 34 first-class wickets at 26.88, but it was to be 1928 when he achieved his greatest success. Making 23 first-class appearances, by some distance his most of any season, Hill took 73 wickets at 27.23 and claimed five or more in an innings on four occasions. In September he was selected for the Gentlemen against the Players at Dean Park, Bournemouth, and picked up seven wickets in the match, his second-innings 12 * also contributing to a nail-biting one-wicket win. Immediately afterwards he played for North of England v

South of England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes ...

at the same venue, and again claimed seven victims in the game. After 1928, Hill was to play only once more for Worcestershire, against the touring

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Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

in early May 1929. However, he did turn out twice more for MCC and once for the Army, as well as making a minor appearance for MCC against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

; all four of these games were at Lord's. His final first-class match was MCC v Wales in late August 1929, in which he took three wickets; his final victim was Harry Symonds. He then went to Malaya and in 1930 played for the Straits Settlements against the Federated Malay States at

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, he was a Japanese

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

and had the rank of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

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Notes

External links

Statistical summary
from CricketArchive

from CricketArchive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Denys English cricketers Straits Settlements cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Free Foresters cricketers British Army cricketers 1896 births 1971 deaths Gentlemen cricketers North v South cricketers Military personnel from Middlesex British Army personnel of World War II British Army officers British World War II prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Japan