CRICKET'S GREATEST HITTERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 3 February 1930, Page 7

CRICKET'S GREATEST HITTERS

THE LATE CI. THORNTON (From Our Own Correspondent) ' ' LONDON, 19th December. Though only a name to the present generation of cricketers, C. 1. Thornton, who has just died, was one of the giants of his time. Indeed, he will ever he remembered for his mighty hitting. Since his retirement from the game, he has remained identified with it through his association with the Scarborough Festival. For many years he was responsible for one of the teams which played during Wie week. Captain of cricket both at Eton and Cambridge, Mr Thornton played for both Kent and Middlesex, and it is believed that he could hit a ball harder and further than anv other batsman. Ronnor; the Australian, boasted that ho had "extinguished Thornton's lamp of fame," but the superiority of the English amateur was generally acknowledged. His prodigious drives were famous even during his school-days. When playing in .a match for Eton against Harrow.ho lifted the ball clean over the old pavilion at. Lords. Thorc were, in fact, few grounds in which ho did not hit the ball outside, and he was repeatedly caught a (hundred yards from the wicket. His greatest recorded hit was when, playing for the Gentlemen of England at Scarborough, the ball pitched 138 yards from the crease. Tho ball rose so high'that it cleared one of the four-storied houses overlooking the ground, and bounced in the roadway bevolid.

Though tall. Thornton was not a specially powerfully built man: It was remarkable, too, that Ke had unusually short arms. There was no doubt that his ability to'hit was due to the perfection of his timing. He • never wore pads, believing that they restricted his freodom, and it was seldom that he batted in gloves. Tsowlers and fieldsmen were positively frightened of him. Southerton, the old Surrey bowler, always declared that he would bo killed by* him, and thoso who were at midoff or cover-point said that the ball flashed past them like a cannon ball. It was almost as bad as "out in the country."