The day Robin hobbled the Aussies
Leg-spinner Robin Hobbs played 440 first-class matches (mostly for Essex) between 1961 and 1981 and took 1 099 wickets. He was a very good cricketer, good enough to play for England. 12 of those wickets came in his seven Tests between 1967 and 1971. Not many specialists have purveyed leg-spin for England, and there were none at all to be seen between his final Test and Ian Salisbury’s debut 21 years later. Hobbs was a competent tail-ender as a career batting average of 12.11 would suggest. For all of that, though, he is mainly remembered for one extraordinary innings.
He came into bat in the 4th innings against the touring Australian team at Chelmsford on 26 August 1975, with Essex on 95-5 chasing an unlikely 353 to win. It was all the more unlikely given that his team had managed to collect a rare combination of an absent ill (Brian Edmeades) and an absent hurt (Keith Fletcher). With two of their best batters not going to don the pads, they were effectively 95-7. Hobbs smashed a century in 44 minutes, At the time it was the 6th fastest in first-class history. Of course, in those bygone days innings timings were generally measured in minutes, rather than balls as they are routinely recorded these days. Subsequent research revealed that Hobbs took 45 balls to reach the magical mark. Fifty years later, there is only one first-class century recorded off fewer balls (excluding the obviously contrived ones) – David Hookes’ 34-ball effort. (There are a number of other 45-ball cases)
This is all very impressive, but it became substantially more impressive to me when I was looking at the scorebook for the match. At the end of the 34th over, Hobbs had made 29 off 23 balls (Essex 160-5). While this is a merry clip, it was hardly earth-shattering, or even Chelmsford-shattering for that matter. What happened after that is truly sensational. The next 5.4 overs produced 94 runs and 3 wickets <insert power-play joke here> off the Australian spinners Jim Higgs and Ashley Mallett. Hobbs massively upped the carnage levels as he smashed 71 off his next 22 balls to reach the century before getting out to the next ball. Amazingly, his strike-rate of 217.39 wasn’t even the highest in the innings. Olympic fencer, David Acfield made 10 off 3 – four, six, gone!!! Higgs’ last three overs went for 45 and Mallett’s last 2.4 overs went for 49. Hobbs added 7 fours and 6 sixes in that time to finish with 12 fours and 7 sixes overall.
Here is the ball-by-ball sequence:
34.1 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Four, 33 (24)
34.2 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Four, 37 (25)
34.3 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Four, 41 (26)
34.4 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Four, 45 (27)
34.5 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Dot, 45 (28)
34.6 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs One, 46 (29)
17 off the over
35.1 AA Mallett to RNS Hobbs Four, 50 (30)
35.2 AA Mallett to RNS Hobbs Six, 56 (31)
35.3 AA Mallett to RNS Hobbs Six, 62 (32)
35.4 AA Mallett to RNS Hobbs One, 63 (33)
35.5 AA Mallett to BR Hardie Six
35.6 AA Mallett to BR Hardie Four
27 off the over
36.1 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Four, 67 (34)
36.2 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Six, 73 (35)
36.3 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Six, 79 (36)
36.4 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Dot, 79 (37)
36.5 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Six, 85 (38)
36.6 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs One, 86 (39)
23 off the over
37.1 AA Mallett to RNS Hobbs Two, 88 (40)
37.2 AA Mallett to RNS Hobbs One, 89 (41)
37.3 AA Mallett to BR Hardie One
37.4 AA Mallett to RNS Hobbs Dot, 89 (42)
37.5 AA Mallett to RNS Hobbs Six, 95 (43)
37.6 AA Mallett to RNS Hobbs One, 96 (44)
11 off the over
38.1 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Four, 100 (45)
38.2 JD Higgs to RNS Hobbs Out, 100 (46)
38.3 JD Higgs to BR Hardie Dot
38.4 JD Higgs to BR Hardie Dot
38.5 JD Higgs to BR Hardie One
38.6 JD Higgs to JK Lever Out
5 off the over
39.1 AA Mallett to BR Hardie One
39.2 AA Mallett to DL Acfield Four
39.3 AA Mallett to DL Acfield Six
39.4 AA Mallett to DL Acfield Out