Tommy Greenhough
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Thomas Greenhough (9 November 1931 – 15 September 2009) 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 represented
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as playing four
Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
s for
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 ...
. After the retirement of
Doug Wright Douglas Wright (born December 20, 1962) is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play ''I Am My Own Wife''. Early years Wright was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended and ...
,
Eric Hollies William Eric Hollies (5 June 1912 – 16 April 1981) was an English cricketer, who is mainly remembered for taking the wicket of Donald Bradman for a duck in Bradman's final Test match innings, in which he needed only four runs for a Test aver ...
and
Roly Jenkins Roly Jenkins (24 November 1918 – 22 July 1995) was an English cricketer, almost exclusively for Worcestershire County Cricket Club as a leg spinner in the period immediately after World War II. Along with Doug Wright and Eric Hollies, Jenk ...
, together with the disappearance from the county scene of
Bruce Dooland Bruce Dooland (1 November 1923 – 8 September 1980) was an Australian cricketer who played in three Test matches for the Australian national cricket team during the late 1940s. During the war Dooland was in an Australian Commando unit servin ...
and Gamini Goonesena, Greenhough stood as the last
county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
leg spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...
ner of any standing in an era when overgrassed pitches and bowling tactics changing rapidly from the enterprising attack of the 1940s to rigid containment rapidly removed this style of bowling from prominence. Greenhough had nothing like the spin of Wright or Jenkins, but could disguise his
googly In the game of cricket, a googly refers to a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. It is different from the normal delivery for a leg-spin bowler in that it is turning the other way. The googly is ''not'' a variation of the ...
exceptionally well, although he bowled from a quite long run-up for a slow bowler. During 1959 and 1960, Greenhough formed an extremely valuable complement to
Brian Statham John Brian Statham, (17 June 1930 – 10 June 2000) was an English professional cricketer from Gorton, in Manchester, who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1968 and for England from 1951 to 1965.cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven b ...
during the winter and fell from a gantry. Both ankles were badly broken and his feet ended up different sizes”. Bateman went on “he overcame his handicap to become one of the most inventive leg-break bowlers in the country, performing well when called up in 1959. He could, however, lose confidence, as happened on the 1960 tour of the West Indies, where he did not play a Test”.


Life and career

Greenhough first played for Lancashire as early as 1951, after coming from the League club Fieldhouse, but until 1956 he played very little for the first eleven. That season, however, he took 66 wickets for less than eighteen runs apiece, and formed a remarkable trio of spinners with Roy Tattersall and
Malcolm Hilton Malcolm Jameson Hilton (2 August 1928 – 8 July 1990) was an English left-arm spin bowler, who played for Lancashire and in four Test matches for England. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, stated, "he was the best slow left-arm bowler Lancashi ...
. In 1957, however, Greenhough seemed to lack spin and in 1958 played only eight games out of twenty eight for the first eleven. It was thus a surprise that, in the dry summer of 1959, Greenhough was able to not only displace both Tattersall and Hilton, but even leap into the
Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
side against
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Although he did well even when India's lack of batting prowess was taken into account, Greenhough was soon reported for persistently running down the pitch during his follow-through.Preston, Norman (editor); ''
Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac ''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 ...
''; Ninety-Seventh Edition (1960); p. 448
Once Greenhough corrected this problem he bowled as well as before. Greenhough's record of 93 wickets in eighteen county games suggested that, had he not missed five games correcting his run-up, he would probably have taken around 150 wickets, which would have made him the leading wicket-taker in England. In 1960, Greenhough took 111 wickets for Lancashire, and played one Test against
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, but 1961 was wiped out by the first of a succession of finger injuries. Even when he had recovered, he again ran into the problem of lacking spin, despite a few good performances as the only recognised slow bowler in a now-weak county side. Despite more finger trouble keeping him out of the Lancashire side for most of 1964, he was awarded a benefit that season and showed when he returned that he still had considerable skill. He achieved a career-best seven for 56 against
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 last county match, plus seven for 108 against
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) in the previous game. In 1965 Greenhough, though fitter, failed to maintain the promise shown late in 1964, and at the end of July 1966 he was unceremoniously dumped by the county. After being discarded, Greenhough moved back to the South Lancashire League, and was honoured by his original club Fieldhouse with a testimonial in 1977. Greenhough died, aged 77, in September 2009.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenhough, Tommy 1931 births 2009 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers Lancashire cricketers Cricketers from Rochdale Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Duke of Norfolk's XI cricketers