Tom Walker, born at Hambledon in 1762 and nicknamed 'Old Everlasting' for the unhurried, immovable defensive batting that once let him face 170 balls from David Harris for one run, was the last Hambledon man still appearing in important cricket through the early 1800s. His attempted 'higher arm' bowling had been ruled foul play by the Hambledon Club committee in 1788 — a forgotten experiment that John Willes would revive in 1807 and that would eventually become roundarm.
The Walker brothers came from Thursley in Surrey rather than Hambledon proper, but joined the Hambledon eleven in the late 1770s and stayed with it through the great years. Tom was known for his stoic temperament, his enormous hands and his weathered face — Nyren said he looked 'like an old gnarled oak'.
By 1800 the Hambledon Club proper had collapsed and Walker had moved his cricket centre to Surrey. He continued to play for England, Surrey, and various made-up sides through the early 1800s, mainly at Lord's Old Ground.
Tom Walker (16 November 1762 - 1 March 1831) was one of three Walker brothers — with his elder brother John and his younger brother Harry — who played for Hambledon in its great years and continued, often for Surrey, into the 1800s. He was famous in the English game for two things. First, his defensive batting: 'Old Everlasting' could absorb anything bowled at him. The most-told single anecdote of his career is that he once faced 170 balls from David Harris and scored only one run from the lot, surviving every delivery. Nyren wrote that he was as 'imperturbable as a stone wall' and that to bowl him out 'a man might bowl till his hair turned grey.' Second, his pioneering bowling action: in the late 1780s — most likely 1788, with another well-documented experiment in July 1794 — Walker tried to deliver the ball with his arm raised above the elbow, a 'higher arm' style that anticipated roundarm by forty years. The Hambledon Club committee called him for foul play and ordered him to revert to underarm; though he was permitted to demonstrate the action in a single match on Dartford Brent (which his XI won by 53 runs against David Harris's XI), the experiment was rejected. Walker continued to bowl underarm and to bat with his characteristic patience for another fifteen years, playing his last major match in 1810 at the age of 47. He died at Aldenham, near Watford, in 1831, the last surviving senior member of the Hambledon eleven of the 1780s.
1762: Born at Thursley, Surrey
Late 1770s: Joins the Hambledon eleven
1788: Hambledon committee rules his higher-arm bowling foul play
Jul 1794: Demonstrates 'higher arm' action in match on Dartford Brent
1798: Last regular Hambledon match
1800-1810: Continues in major matches for Surrey and made-up sides
1810: Final major match, aged 47
1 Mar 1831: Dies at Aldenham, Hertfordshire
16 Nov 1762
Tom Walker born at Thursley, Surrey
Late 1770s
Joins Hambledon eleven
1788
Hambledon rules his higher-arm bowling foul play
1810
Final major match, aged 47
1 Mar 1831
Dies at Aldenham, Hertfordshire
“He was the coolest, the most imperturbable fellow in existence. To bowl him out a man might bowl till his hair turned grey.”
“He played at one over from David Harris of one hundred and seventy balls, scoring but one run.”
When Walker died in 1831 he was the last surviving senior Hambledon man. John Nyren, then beginning his memoir, used Walker as a primary source for many of the anecdotes that became The Cricketers of My Time. Walker's bowling experiment was vindicated when roundarm was legalised in 1828 — three years before his death — and overarm in 1864.
The longest-lasting Hambledon hand of them all — defensive batsman, frustrated bowling pioneer, and bridge between the eighteenth-century village game and the new MCC cricket of the 1810s.
Walker is the most stubbornly enduring of the eighteenth-century Hambledon men, his career spanning more than thirty years from underarm dominance to roundarm legalisation. His attempted higher-arm bowling is the prehistory of every modern fast bowler. His patient defensive batting was the model for every accumulator from W.G. Grace to Geoffrey Boycott.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.