THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY OF HAROLD GIMBLETT
(A Tale for Friday the 13th?)

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As a boy, growing up in Smallville and at a time before television, I used to listen to the radio and scan newspapers for news of my boyhood heroes - Dick Barton:Special Agent, Stanley Matthews, Charlie Wayman....and Harold Gimblett. It`s depressing that people have to ask who on earth was Harold Gimblett. Whilst it does him little justice to paraphrase it, his story goes like this....

Born in October, 1914 in the secluded village of Bicknoller, deep in the Quantock Hills of West Somerset, Harold had a natural eye and a raw talent. After starring in local village cricket - and after much persuasion - he went to the headquarters of Somerset County Cricket Club at Taunton for a fortnight`s trial in May, 1935. It was with mixed feelings that he took the news that he had been rejected, but on his last afternoon there, he was asked to make up the numbers for the county side in their match against Essex at Frome which was due to start the following morning.

Come the morning, Harold missed his alarm call and hence missed the early morning bus to Bridgwater but he managed to hitch a lift on a lorry and arrived at Frome after Somerset had started their innings (thankfully, they were not fielding or Harold`s career might well have ended before it began.)

Wickets tumbled and Somerset were in some trouble - 110 for six - when Harold went to the crease batting at number 8 for his first ever innings for the county. He proceeded to score 123 in 79 minutes of controlled, aggressive hitting - and went on to win the Lawrence Trophy for the fastest century scored that season. By any standards, an astonishing story and it was just the start of a career that to the present day has produced more runs than anyone else in the history of Somerset - including greats such as Ian Botham and Sir Vivian Richards - over 23,000 runs at an average of 36.

The following season, Harold was opening the batting for England at Lord`s, but he only played in three tests either side of the war, partly due to the war itself but also to his style of play being `not quite the thing.` Then there was an inbuilt reluctance on his part to stray too far beyond the comforting boundaries of county cricket (he was prone to contracting timely `injuries` when selected for his country.) This was a telltale sign of the fragile nature of his temperament and despite his expressive batting, he suffered from spells of deep depression such that in May at the start of the 1954 season, his nerves finally gave way and, after two low scores against Yorkshire, he walked away, never to return.

Like so many professional cricketers, Harold found that life had little to offer once his playing days were over and in March, 1978, tired of fighting his demons, Harold took his own life in the mobile home at Verwood in Dorset where he and his wife, Rita, had settled.

There was rightly a memorial service for Harold at St. James Church, Taunton, on 27 May 1978. The churchyard almost backs on to the boundary of the Taunton cricket ground where Harold, the young farmer`s boy, had all those years before demonstrated his gift for landing sixes among the tombstones. Whilst the memorial service was in progress, a match was being played on the county ground, from which many of the congregation had just come. As they paid their heartfelt respects to their departed hero, they could hear the ripples of applause for Viv Richards` boundaries, between the verses of the hymns.

Another of Somerset and England`s batting heroes, Marcus Trescothick, has been going through a difficult time, culminating in him twice walking away from recent overseas tours. It was with great joy that I read reports of his comeback last weekend, when playing in a pre-season friendly game against Devon, he smashed 276 carefree runs in an innings containing 19 sixes, such is his own monumental power and talent, recalling that of Harold Gimblett at his very best. Doubtless, some of Trescothick`s blows landed in the outfield of St. James Church. If so, they were in very good company.