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.

Illness and move home

Thr triumphs of 1896 and 1897 were followed by disaster for Hallam, however. Always a sensitive figure of slight build, his health broke down so badly that he could not play in a single match for Lancashire in 1898, and broke down again soon after resuming playing in both 1899 and 1900. Such setbacks induced Lancashire to release him, and would have certainly finished most cricketing careers.

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However, Nottinghamshire, wanting a bowler to support Wass and John Gunn, turned to Hallam (qualified for them by birth) and, with his health recovering, established himself quickly as a steady stock bowler during the following three years - though he was seldom deadly even when the pitches suited slow bowling as they usually did in 1902 and 1903. In 1904, Hallam was so disappointing when the weather turned fine that he was left out of many matches, but he rebounded in 1905 with some excellent performances, notably 6 for 46 on a worn wicket at Lord's and a career-best 8 for 63 for North Of England in a Festival game in September.

Related Topics:
John Gunn - Lord's

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