Hartley W Lobban (9 May 1926 – 15 October 2004) was a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n-born

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 17 matches 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 ...

in the early 1950s.

Life and career

Lobban played little cricket in Jamaica. He went to England at the end of

World War II 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 opposing ...

as a member of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

, and settled in

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...

in 1947, where he worked as a civilian lorry driver for the RAF.''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county and club cricket. The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cricket writer. Warner ...

'', 9 August 1952, p. 335. He began playing for

Kidderminster Cricket Club Kidderminster Cricket Club is a cricket club in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. Their 1st and 2nd XIs currently play in the Birmingham and District Premier League Premier Division. Their 3rd, 4th and 5th XIs play in the Worcestershire C ...

in the Birmingham League, and at the start of the 1952 season, opening the bowling for the club's senior team, he had figures of 7 for 9 and 7 for 37. Worcestershire invited him to play for them, and he made his first-class debut against Sussex in July 1952. He took five wickets in the match (his maiden victim being

Ken Suttle Kenneth George Suttle (25 August 1928 – 25 March 2005) was an English cricketer. Cricket career Ken Suttle was primarily a left-handed batsman but was also a useful slow left-arm bowler. His first-class career with Sussex lasted from 1949 ...

) and then held on for 4

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

with Peter Richardson (20 not out) to add the 12 runs needed for a one-wicket victory after his county had collapsed from 192 for 2 to 238 for 9. A week later he claimed four wickets against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, then a few days later still he managed 6 for 52 (five of his victims

bowled In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batsman. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batsman, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (Th ...

) in what was otherwise a disastrous innings defeat to

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. In the last match of the season he took a career-best 6 for 51 against Glamorgan; he and

Reg Perks Reginald Thomas David Perks (4 October 1911 – 22 November 1977) was an English cricketer who played in two Test matches in 1939, and was the mainstay of Worcestershire's bowling for a long period from the middle 1930s until the middle 1950s ...

(4 for 59) bowled unchanged throughout the first innings. Worcestershire won the game and Lobban finished the season with 23 wickets at 23.69. He took 23 wickets again in 1953, but at a considerably worse average of 34.43, and had only two really successful games: 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 ...

in June, when he took 5 for 70, and then against Sussex in July. On this occasion Lobban claimed eight wickets, his most in a match, including 6 for 103 in the first innings. He also made his highest score with the bat, 18, but Sussex won by five wickets. In 1954 Lobban made only two first-class appearances, and managed only the single wicket of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

tail-ender

Bomber Wells Bryan Douglas "Bomber" Wells (27 July 1930 – 19 June 2008) was an English cricketer. Wells was born and raised in Gloucester, and educated at local school Linden Road Secondary. He was a right-handed tail-end batsman and off-break bowler wh ...

. In his final game, against Warwickshire at

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

, his nine first-innings overs cost 51. He bowled just two overs in the second innings as Warwickshire completed an easy ten-wicket win. Lobban played one more Second XI game, against Glamorgan II at

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...

; in this he picked up five wickets. He was also a professional boxer and played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

for Kidderminster. He later moved to Canada, where he worked as a teacher in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He and his wife Celia had a son and two daughters.

References

External links

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Statistical summary
from CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Lobban, Hartley 1926 births 2004 deaths English cricketers Jamaican cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Migrants from British Jamaica to the United Kingdom British emigrants to Canada Royal Air Force personnel of World War II