J. B. HOBBS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 January 1925, Page 9

J. B. HOBBS

AN APPRECIATION. In view pr ine wonderful work being done by Hobbs in tne present series of Tests, and also the fact that he is the greatest scorer of centuries on record in the matches between Eaigland and Australia, the following tribute from the pen of “Neville- Cardus” in “A Cricketers Book” is worthy of persual bv all enthusiasts : “That the first century of the season (May 1920) should usually come from Hobbs is, as Mr. Square in “Tom Jones” would have said, in full accordance with the fitness of things. For Hobbs is indisputably our leading batsman, moreover, he is an out and out product of the modern game. Were a Martian to come ‘fcpon us, wanting an introduction to. the science of batting as we know it to-day, we need go no farther than the Oval some morning when Hobbs is at his best. And, truth to tell, Hobbs is always at his best, even when he fails to put up a big score. This is no paradox. There are cricketers who can give a glimpse of their mettle even in the very process of getting bowled, just as a tyro may hit a ball to the boundary time after time, yet only to convince us of his total lack of art. , Whoever saw Maclaren in any way unbecoming to a great cricketer,? I always think of him, to-dav as I saw him once playing forward to Blythe beautifully, a majestic rythm governing the slightest movement. He was clean bowled on the' occasion I have in mind for none, but nobody other than a giant of the game could have made a duck so immaculately. Hobbs, without possessing Maclaren’s eternal magnificence, can similarly convince us even on his unfruitful” days. Rarely does he lose his

wicket through incorrect, or rather, inartistic play. He does of course deviate from the conventions; that is because, like the artist he is, Hobbs cannot go on from day to day just scoring runs in the way that comes easiest to him. No artist 'is happy moving along the lines of least resistance, and Hobbs is for ever seeking to widen the scope of his craft —experimenting, creating obstacles for the sheer joy of overcoming them. So does a Chopin choose to write a study for black notes only, a Chardian paint a white table cloth against a white back ground. Any green boy fresh from his coach at a public school may hit a. ball on the oft stump past cover; Hobbs often prefers to play it round to the on with a wonderfully daring shot. Of course it is risky, and now and again he pays the P e fiA“N" At the beginning of last summer (1919 an amount of gloom set in at the Oval because Hobbs failed for several days in succession. Was bis day over, asked the Jeremiahs. And then, just before the Lancashire match in London, Hobbs decided he had been playing a little too. confidently, trying his mi shots before getting the pace of the wicket. In this match he promised himself he would Take no undue risk. As a result he got a century. And he would get a century every time lie batted if lie chose to “sit on the splice’ ’ and wait for the inevitable loose ones. Fortunately for the glory of cricket, Hobbs sees more in the game, more of art than of science. Like Peter Pan he is ever out for “an awfullv big adventure.” . I have said that Hobbs in lmnselt would provide an ample idea of the scope of modern batting technique. And I should say that the great batsman of to-day differs from the great batsman of yesterday in his fuller command over back play as an offensive factor, and his ability to combine it

easefully with forward play. Men like Hobbs have worked out a method of back play such as few cricketers of the ’’eighties dreamt of, though there have, of coursej always been geniuses who “budded wiser than they knew”— wiser, that is, than the law taught them. Such a one was Arthur Shrewsbury, whose back play was faultless, no matter how bad the wicket Old cricketers- may argue with some force that modern batting—even that of Hobbs—is not as delightful to watch as batting was when it was three parts forward play. The grace of forward play comes from the longer swing that can be got if you move your lelt leg fairly welL out. But a flawing rythmical movement is not the only way m which great batting may fitileate the aesthetic emotions. If Hobbs, for instance, finds tlie wicket or the bowling rather against a free forward game, then he makes the main factor in Ins back play take the form of wrist work. And who will deny the fascination of wrist work? Why, the most stylish bat of the last twenty years and that is 11. 11. Spooner, appealed to us less by his forward play than by wrist action used in conjunction with back play. With Hobbs, when lie is on a had wicket, back play is positively dramatic. He times Ins strokes so beautifully that you catch your breath as you see the ball on the verv wicket. Then he gives you that wonderfully quick swing

round, the right leg as pivot, and you see the finest on-side shot of recent years! The Harrow drive through the covers, is sweet, but Hobbs on the on side is majestic. Besides, given a fast wicket, Hobbs can pla.y the conventional forward game with the best ot them. How superbly adaptable is his style we can understand from his success in this country, in South Africa, in Australia, against all conceivable sorts of bowling. The modern batsman may have the good fortune to. play on better wickets than those which fell to cricketers of yesterday, but, fo be just to them, let us realise that they have bowling infinitely more diversified to tackle. (Note: —Mr. Cardus is referring here to. bowling during tlie Barnes, Vogler, and Foster period). Hobbs has mastered great howlers in the “classical’’ manner, and Rhodes, Blythe, Noble, J. T. Hearne will compare ivith any howlers of the ’eighties and ’nineties: he has mastered the greatest of the modernists —Hordern, Schwarz, Faulkner, Barnes, Hirst, F. 11. Foster, ' “googly” men, or break-cnm-off break, swerve or what yon will. He learnt all the well tried 'tricks of the trade from Tom Hayward, and has added a. few of his very own.”