Thomas Walker (16 November 1762 – 1 March 1831) was an English

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 str ...

er who played for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

in the days of the

Hambledon Club The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England. Foundation The origin of the club, based near Hambledon in rural Hampshire ...

and later for Surrey. He was famous for his brilliant defensive batting. He is also credited with introducing, roundarm bowling, the predecessor of modern

overarm bowling In cricket, overarm bowling refers to a delivery in which the bowler's hand is above shoulder height. When cricket originated all bowlers delivered the ball underarm, where the bowler's hand is below waist height. However, so the story goes, Jo ...

Career

Walker was born in

Churt Churt is a village and civil parish in the borough of Waverley in Surrey, England, about south of the town of Farnham on the A287 road towards Hindhead. A clustered settlement is set in areas acting as its green buffers, which include the ...

, near

Frensham Frensham is a village in Surrey, England, next to the A287 road, WSW of Guildford, the county town. Frensham lies on the right bank of the River Wey (south branch), only navigable to canoes, shortly before its convergence with the north bran ...

, Surrey. Known as "Old Everlasting", he was one of the greatest batsmen of the late 18th century and was also a very useful bowler. He is believed to have been the originator of the roundarm bowling style. Legend has it that he and some of his fellow players in the "Hambledon Era" used to practise in a barn during the winters. Walker worked out that he could generate more bounce and variation of pace if he bowled with his arm away from his body and soon realised that these deliveries gave the batsman added problems. He failed to get the new style accepted during his career although he sowed the seeds of a bowling revolution that took place a generation later. Walker was noted for his outstanding defensive play and was notoriously difficult to dismiss. On one occasion the frustrated bowler

Lord Frederick Beauclerk The Reverend Lord Frederick de Vere Beauclerk (8 May 1773 – 22 April 1850), a 19th-century Anglican priest, was an outstanding but controversial English first-class cricketer, the leading "amateur" player of the Napoleonic period. Lord Frede ...

is reported to have thrown down his hat and shouted: "You confounded old beast!" at Walker whose laconic response to his teammates afterwards was: "I don't care what he says". On another occasion he faced 170 deliveries from David Harris and scored one run. In a match at

Bourne Paddock Bourne Paddock was a cricket ground at Bourne Park House, the seat of Sir Horatio Mann, at Bishopsbourne around south-east of Canterbury in the English county of Kent. It was a venue for first-class cricket matches from 1766 to 1790. The ground ...

on 8–12 August 1786, playing for

White Conduit Club The White Conduit Club (WCC) was a cricket club based on the northern fringes of London that existed from c.1782 until 1788. Although short-lived, it had considerable significance in the history of the game, as its members created the first Lord ...

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 ...

, Walker came very close to scoring two centuries in the match and would have been the first known achiever of this feat if he had scored five more in his first innings. He made 95* and 102. White Conduit won the game by 164 runs. Walker played for the Players in the inaugural and second

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

matches in 1806.CricketArchive – scorecard of second Gentlemen v Players match
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Family

His brothers

Harry Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

, who was a very good player, and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

, an occasional player, also represented Surrey. Tom Walker died in

Chiddingfold Chiddingfold is a village and civil parish in the Weald in the Waverley district of Surrey, England. It lies on the A283 road between Milford and Petworth. The parish includes the hamlets of Ansteadbrook, High Street Green and Combe Common ...

, Surrey.

References

Bibliography

* H S Altham, ''A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)'', George Allen & Unwin, 1962 *

Derek Birley Sir Derek Birley (31 May 1926 – 14 May 2002) was a distinguished English educationalist and a prize-winning writer on the social history of sport, particularly cricket. Life and career Born in a mining community in West Yorkshire, Birley attend ...

, ''A Social History of English Cricket'', Aurum, 1999 *

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as well as num ...

, ''Scores & Biographies'', Volume 1 (1744-1826), Lillywhite, 1862 *

Ashley Mote Ashley Mote (25 January 1936 – 30 March 2020) was a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2004 to 2009. Elected representing the UK Independence Party, he became a non-inscrit one month into his term after ...

, ''The Glory Days of Cricket'', Robson, 1997 *

John Nyren John Nyren (15 December 1764 – 30 June 1837) was an English cricketer and author. Nyren made 16 known appearances in first-class cricket from 1787 to 1817. He achieved lasting fame as the author of '' The Cricketers of My Time'', which was fir ...

, ''The Cricketers of my Time'' (ed.

), Robson, 1998 {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Tom 1762 births 1831 deaths English cricketers English cricketers of 1701 to 1786 English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 Hampshire cricketers Surrey cricketers Players cricketers Hambledon cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricketers Kent cricketers White Conduit Club cricketers Left-Handed v Right-Handed cricketers Surrey and Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Brighton cricketers West Kent cricketers