Harold John Heygate, born at Wellingborough,

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 ...

, on 4 August 1884 and died at

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

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. ...

on 27 June 1937 was a

cricketer 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 ...

of very minor distinction except in one respect: his role in his final first-class game led to a situation that is almost certainly unique and that caused a sensation at the time.

Cricket career

Heygate's conventional cricket career can be dismissed in a few sentences. Educated at

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a boys' school to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orpha ...

, he was a right-handed opening batsman who played five times in first-class matches for

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

between 1903 and 1905. Only in one match, 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 ...

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

in 1905, when he scored 80 and an undefeated 68, did he show any particular talent. After 1905, he did not play again in the years leading up to the First World War, though he appeared for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

against the United States in 1908.

The Heygate Incident of 1919

Heygate's enduring fame rests on a single final appearance for Sussex in the match 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_ ...

at the County Ground, Taunton in May 1919. County cricket in England resumed immediately after the First World War but first-class matches in the

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 ...

were restricted to two days only, and several sides struggled for players as servicemen waited to be discharged. Sussex travelled to Taunton short of a player and Heygate, there as a spectator, was pressed into service. Since his last first-class cricket 14 years before, though, he had sustained leg wounds during the war and suffered badly from arthritis (rheumatism, according to

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

). The extent of his injuries became apparent as he was first excused fielding while Somerset made 243, and then batted at No 11, being bowled by Jack White for 0 as Sussex replied with 242. On the second day, according to the recollection of

Jack MacBryan John Crawford William MacBryan (22 July 1892 – 14 July 1983) was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University and Somerset and made one almost imperceptible appearance in a Test match for England. MacBryan was also a field hoc ...

, recounted in

David Foot David K. Foot is a Canadian economist and demographer. Foot did his undergraduate work at the University of Western Australia and his graduate work in economics at Harvard University, where he was supervised by Martin Feldstein. Following his ...

's history of Somerset cricket, ''Sunshine, Sixes and Cider'', Heygate remained in a blue serge suit with the implication that he would take no further part in the match. But Sussex then dismissed Somerset in the second innings for 103 and, wanting 105 to win the match, themselves faded to 48 for six wickets. There was then a pugnacious partnership of 55 that took the score to 103, when two wickets fell in successive deliveries. Another run was scored, bringing the two sides level, and then the ninth wicket was taken. At that point, there was a hiatus, and accounts between Foot and Wisden vary. Both agree, however, that after some minutes had elapsed without Heygate appearing to bat, someone on the Somerset side appealed, and

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'', ...

Alfred Street Alfred Street is a street running between the High Street to the north and the junction with Blue Boar Street and Bear Lane at the southern end, in central Oxford, England.

, a respected Test match official, ruled that Heygate was out

timed out Timed out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It occurs when an incoming batsman is not ready to play within three minutes of the previous batsman being out. It is very rare to be out in such a fashion, and has never occurred in an ...

, the Sussex innings was over and the match was a tie. Foot's account has Heygate with pads strapped on top of his blue serge suit making a valiant but fruitless attempt to reach the wicket. Wisden, less detailed, merely remarked: "Whether or not Heygate would have been able to crawl to the wicket, it was very unsportsmanlike that such a point should have been raised." The decision caused controversy in the press and elsewhere, much of it centring on the lack of civility to a wounded ex-serviceman. But an MCC committee upheld the umpire's decision and the result of the match stood. There being no "Timed Out" dismissal at the time – the Law was not introduced until 1980 – Heygate was recorded as "out, absent". More recent scorecards have shown him as "absent hurt". Perhaps not surprisingly, Heygate did not play first-class cricket again. His obituary in the 1938 Wisden makes no reference to the 1919 incident.

The Timed Out Rule

MCC ruled that umpire Street was correct under the then Law 45 of the Laws of Cricket. At the time, this Law was part of a list of duties addressed to the umpires, and stated: "They shall allow two minutes for each striker to come in". Unlike the present Law 31, which allows for a specific dismissal method of "Timed Out", the old Law in 1919 did not specify what happened when an individual batsman failed to reach the wicket in the time allowed.

References

Notes

* Wisden 1920 and 1938 * David Foot, ''Sunshine, Sixes and Cider'', David & Charles, 1986 * Who's Who of Cricketers, by Philip Bailey, Philip Thorn and Peter Wynne-Thomas, mentions the 1919 incident in its notes on both Heygate and Street
Cricket Archive
at www.cricketarchive.co.uk for Heygate's stats in www.CricketArchive.co.uk

at www.cricketarchive.co.uk for the specific scorecard of the 1919 match in www.CricketArchive.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Heygate, Harold 1884 births 1937 deaths Sussex cricketers

Cricket career

The Heygate Incident of 1919

The Timed Out Rule

See also

References

Notes