Article contributed by Paul Baker aka Farmer White.
James Hildreth has retired from professional cricket. His career will one day, no doubt, make a classic cricket book. But now, as Somerset supporters everywhere are remembering one of the last great single-team domestic careers here, as a special tribute, are one person’s personal memories of the greatest moment of his Somerset career. A personal appreciation of more of James Hildreth’s great innings for Somerset appears in the preceding post to this one. This is an extract from that article. There is a link to the full article below.
September 20th, 2016. A day which will forever live in the annals of Somerset cricket. It was the first day of the last match of the season and the atmosphere pulsated with tension. Somerset had a chance of winning the County Championship, but to keep that chance alive they had to win the match. In the end the title went to Middlesex after an agreed declaration against Yorkshire at Lord’s, but on the first day that was in the future. Nottinghamshire were Somerset’s opponents. Somerset won the toss and elected to bat. By the time they had reached 33, Jake Ball, bowling thunderbolts, had dismissed Marcus Trescothick and Tom Abell and you could hear a pin drop as James Hildreth joined Chris Rogers. The Somerset innings was in the balance. There then ensued perhaps the most remarkable performance in the history of Somerset cricket. Hildreth had reached seven when Ball dispatched another thunderbolt. Full and unerringly accurate it crashed into Hildreth’s ankle, breaking it as it struck. The excruciating agony Hildreth suffered was toe-clenchingly obvious to every person in the ground.
Miraculously, a much-overused word, but not in this instance, he remained at the crease, his bat instantly taking on a second purpose. It served, as it always had, as a wand with which he purveyed the most magical of strokes. But it also became a walking stick. Tom Abell acted as his runner for four of the most astounding hours of cricket I have ever seen. Throughout that time Hildreth used his bat to aid him in hobbling to square leg or the far end of the pitch when not on strike. It was wincingly painful to watch. With the Championship perhaps in the balance, the sights and the tension of that day will be forever engraved on my Somerset heart. I watched the entire innings from what was then the Marcus Trescothick Stand, now the River Stand, shortly to be re-named for the second time, this time as The James Hildreth Stand.
With feet anchored to the crease by pain, at times almost unbearable to watch, let alone to suffer, Hildreth’s attacking strokes were played mainly straight and through the off side, the leg side being largely off limits, perhaps beyond the extremes of the pain, or damage limitation, barrier. A succession of straight and cover drives had all the effortless majesty they had always had when he was at his best, with the ball leaving the bat as if propelled and directed by some unseen power. It was the execution that differed on this day, no foot movement, just wrist movement and timing.
Heads around the ground slowly shook and pairs of eyes looked at each other in disbelieving awe at what was unfolding in front of them. If any doubted the restrictions on Hildreth’s movement and the pain he endured, they were removed when he attempted to pull a bouncer. The feet moved into position, the bat flowed through the stroke and the ball flew to the boundary. But the agony which the foot movement inflicted on Hildreth was plain for all to see as his body shuddered in response. He all but lost his balance as he instinctively lifted his foot to relieve the pain and, compensating with the bat, hobbled in agony until he regained his balance. It was a breath-stopping moment.
And yet, with the Championship potentially on the line, he stayed at the crease. It mattered not what the bowlers did, he stood firm for Somerset. With the feet anchored, the ball continued to flow unerringly from those wrist-powered strokes. Few had expected him to return after the lunch interval, but out he hobbled to huge applause and not a few tears as people struggled to contain their emotions at an innings the like of which few, if any, could have seen before. His century came from 199 balls, most of those delivered after his ankle had been broken. The ground rose to its feet as one, hands clapping above heads or outstretched from chests within which hearts palpitated and breaths fought with the emotions for air as tissues and handkerchiefs surreptitiously removed tears. And before eyes were properly dry, Hildreth prepared to carry on.
He added another 35 runs, and with Chris Rogers posted a total of 269 for the third wicket at nearly four runs an over. It was an innings that defied, and defies, belief. In comparison it seems almost an intrusion to record that both he and Rogers passed a thousand first-class runs for the season during the course of their innings. It was a glorious exhibition of batting by any standards. Achieved with the agony of a broken ankle it was an astonishing one. It will live for an eternity in the memory of anyone who witnessed it. Many things are said to be unforgettable. Hildreth’s innings on 20th September 2016 truly was. Somerset steel. Batting genius.
The genius and the steel in numbers:
18,000 first-class runs at an average of 41.00, of which 17,237 were scored for Somerset at 40.46. 47 first-class centuries, of which 45 were scored for Somerset. 250 catches in first-class matches of which 238 were in Somerset colours.
6.100 List A runs at an average of 35.46, of which all but four were scored for Somerset. 8 List A centuries, all scored for Somerset. 81 catches in List A matches of which 80 were in Somerset colours.
3,906 T20 runs at an average of 24.56. All were scored for Somerset. 1 T20 century and 17 T20 fifties, all for Somerset. 73 catches in T20 matches, all for Somerset.
For Somerset, James Hildreth appeared in:
277 first-class matches. 222 List A matches 206 T20 matches
A total of 705 Somerset appearances across 20 seasons.
In addition he appeared in 8 first-class matches for the England Lions and one for the MCC, and 1 List A match for the Somerset Cricket Board.
With the nature and structure of cricket changing at pace, such a two-decade, single-team domestic career may never be seen again.
Statistics and scores contained in this article have been produced or verified by reference to the CricketArchive.