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.

Decline

Because it was clear that their bowling would be ineffective on rock-hard Australian pitches (and their bodies would not withstand the hard work under such conditions), Hallam and Wass were never considered for the winter's Ashes tour.

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However, it was still a surprise how Hallam declined the following year. Affected by rheumatism in the right shoulder, his haul of wickets in county cricket fell from 153 to 72 and his average more than doubled. 1909, a summer equally as wet as 1907, was little better even if Hallam was twice unplayable against weak opponents on dreadful pitches. Already forty years of age, it was clear Hallam was not going to recover his form as he had done at least twice before, and after bowling with very moderate success in the early games of 1910 he was left out of the Nottinghamshire eleven for James Iremonger to develop as a bowler. He played in Lancashire League cricket until World War I and returned to Leicestershire after that, dying there in 1940 at the age of eighty.

Related Topics:
James Iremonger - World War I

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