Full name Edward Winchester Clark
Born August 9, 1902, Elton, Huntingdonshire
Died April 28, 1982, West Winch, King's Lynn, Norfolk (aged 79 years 262 days)
Major teams England, Northamptonshire
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Left-arm fast
Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 | 6s | Ct | St | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tests ![]() |
8 | 9 | 5 | 36 | 10 | 9.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
First-class | 338 | 510 | 195 | 1971 | 30 | 6.25 | 0 | 0 | 102 | 0 |
Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tests ![]() |
8 | 15 | 1931 | 899 | 32 | 5/98 | 7/208 | 28.09 | 2.79 | 60.3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
First-class | 338 | 60997 | 25965 | 1208 | 8/59 | 21.49 | 2.55 | 50.4 | 63 | 15 |
Test debut | England v South Africa at The Oval, Aug 17-20, 1929 scorecard |
Last Test | England v Australia at The Oval, Aug 18-22, 1934 scorecard |
Test statistics | |
First-class span | 1922 - 1947 |
Edward Winchester Clark, inevitably known as Nobby, who died on April 28, 1982, near King's Lynn, aged 79, possessed every qualification of a great bowler except temperament. With a lovely loose left arm, which almost brushed his ear as it came over, he had a classic action, his right shoulder pointing straight at the batsman. He was at his best really fast and, though he was well capable of bowling, like Voce, to a leg-side field, was probably most effective round the wicket when the ball, swinging in and breaking away, would produce catches in the slips if the batsman was good enough to touch it. But he was a perfectionist and anything outside his control which interfered with that perfection - a dropped catch, an insecure foothold, a tactless word from his captain or one of his companions - was quite sufficient to put him off. It was his misfortune that his county, Northamptonshire, was throughout his career one of the weakest sides that has ever played in the Championship: not only did he have to do more than his fair share of bowling, but perhaps no fast bowler since Buckenham of Essex had so many chances dropped off him. A further annoyance to him was the rate at which his vis-à-vis, that splendid bowler Albert Thomas, got through his overs, an undue proportion of which were maidens, thus robbing Clark of what he considered as a rightful rest. His cricket began and ended with his bowling: neither batting nor fielding did he regard as any business of his.