PROFILE

Emmett did not join Yorkshire until he was 25-years-old as a professional fast left-arm bowler with a near round-arm action. He soon made up for lost time playing for England against Surrey & Sussex in Lockyer's benefit match at the Oval in 1867, his second season.

Between 1867 to the end of 1871 Emmett and George Freeman dominated the English bowling scene. After 1871 Freeman followed his business commitments and Emmett combined with Allen Hill. He called his most famous delivery the ‘sostenuter’ which pitched on leg and broke back to take the off-stump.

In his later years, Emmett shared the Yorkshire bowling duties with George Ulyett, Billy Bates, Ted Peate and Bobby Peel and as his own pace deserted him he readjusted and developed into a slow-medium bowler, pitching the ball on or outside off stump, and inviting the drive against the turn. He used flight, spin and changes of pace, and the batsmen found it hard to settle against this seemingly endless variety.

Emmett was an excellent bat, with a sound defence and strong straight drives, and also a fine fielder.

Emmett toured Australia three times, taking part in the first-ever Test in 1877, and playing seven Tests in all and he toured North America once. He was also the bowling mainstay for Lord Harris's team in 1878/9.

He captained Yorkshire between 1878 and 1882, ending his connection with the eleven in 1888 and was the last professional to captain Yorkshire until Vic Wilson was appointed in 1960.

Emmett married a woman named Grace, three years his junior, and had four daughters (Clara, Frances, Evelyn and Edith) and two sons, (Arthur, who went on to play for Leicestershire in 1902, and Albert). He died in Leicester in 1904.

JMB October 2010

HS Altham said of him: "Never was there a man of higher vitality, of more inexhaustible good humour than Tom Emmett."

His Wisden obituary said: ‘There was never a more popular professional, his cheery nature, and the inexhaustible energy with which he played the game, making him a prime favourite wherever he went. The charm of Emmett as a cricketer lay in his keen and obvious enjoyment of the game. No day was too long for him, and up to the end he played with the eagerness of a schoolboy. He was full of humour, and numberless good stories are told about him.’