On 23 June 1800 Thomas 'Old Everlasting' Walker batted for the best part of two days for Hampshire against Surrey at Lord's. Contemporaries said he scored at a rate of barely a run an over. The innings — 41 in roughly four and a half hours — was Walker's longest at Lord's and the most extreme example of the Hambledon-school defensive batting that had governed the major game since the 1780s.
Hambledon batting orthodoxy held that the first duty of a batter was to occupy the crease. Walker was the most extreme exponent of the doctrine.
Hampshire had been beaten in their previous match at Lord's. Their captain, Lord Beauclerk's rival Edward Aburrow, instructed Walker before the match to 'bat as long as you can stand'.
Walker had been a Hambledon professional since the 1780s and was, by 1800, almost forty. His batting was famous for its endurance: he played down the line of every ball, refused all loose strokes, and tired bowlers into half-volleys. The June 1800 match against Surrey was played on a rough Lord's strip with a fast underarm attack led by John Wells. Walker came in at no. 3 in Hampshire's first innings and stayed at the wicket for nearly four and a half hours, scoring 41. The crowd, by John Nyren's later report, alternated between admiration and groans of impatience.
23 Jun 1800: Walker comes in at no. 3 with Hampshire 12 for 1
Reaches 10 after roughly an hour
Survives an appeal for caught behind on 18
Reaches 41 mid-afternoon on day two
Bowled by Wells attempting a defensive push
c. 1761
Walker born at Churt, Surrey
1780s
First Hambledon matches
23-24 Jun 1800
41 in 4½ hours v Surrey at Lord's
1812
Final major match
1831
Walker dies
“Tom Walker would block, block, block — and then block again. The bowlers wore themselves out before he wore his own bat out.”
Hampshire still lost the match — Surrey's batting was too strong — but Walker's innings was discussed in the cricket press for weeks.
The defining performance of the Hambledon defensive school in its closing years.
John Nyren immortalised Walker as 'Old Everlasting' in The Young Cricketer's Tutor (1833). His 1800 marathon innings is the canonical example of the slow-batting tradition.
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1811-07-04
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1812-12-15
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