Albert Hallam

Albert Hallam (Albert William Hallam; born November 12 1869, East Leake, Nottinghamshire, England; died July 24 1940, Loughborough, England) was an off spin bowler who is primarily remembered, along with Thomas Wass, for giving Nottinghamshire an astonishing win in the County Championship of 1907. They did not lose a single match and managed to win fifteen out of nineteen games in which a ball was actually bowled. This is the highest proportion of wins by an undefeated side and the third highest proportion of wins in County Championship history - and the two higher figures were in very dry summers with almost no rain interruptions.

A Prelude and an Extraordinary Triumph

1906 saw Hallam develop his skill considerably, showing an ability to spin the ball past the bat of even a watchful batsman when the pitch helped him. However, his greatest feat was the amazing endurance he showed in bowling, on a perfect Lord's wicket, 58 overs with a damaged hand and winning the match with Middlesex for the second successive year.

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Nobody, though, could have been prepared for the following year's cricket. Striking their form at the start, Hallam and Wass were so deadly on the treacherous pitches that they won match after match wiith almost no bowling changes - they took all but fifty of the 348 wickets falling to Nottinghamshire in nineteen County Championship matches, only one of which was played throughout on a pitch unaffected by rain. In almost all Nottinghamshire's matches, the soft turf took all the spin Hallam and Wass could get on the ball, and even the best wet-wicket batsmen could never make a stand against them. It was thought Hallam should have played in the Test matches against South Africa, but he was chosen only for the third and declined due to a damaged hand which had prevented him participating in Nottinghamshire's game with the tourists. However, he did displace Schofield Haigh from his perennial position at the top of the bowling averages and was nominated as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

Related Topics:
Test matches - Schofield Haigh - Wisden Cricketer of the Year

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