Albert Trott
Encyclopedia
Albert Trott was a Test
cricket
er for both Australia and England. He was named as one of Wisden Cricketers of the Year
in 1899. He remains the only batsman who has struck a ball over the top of the Lord's
pavilion
. Despite his notoriety, having played in 375 first-class
matches, he died almost penniless when he committed suicide
at the age of 41.
, Melbourne
, Australia
.
Trott's story represents one of the great enigmas of Australia
n cricket
history. He burst onto the Test
scene against England
in Adelaide
, Australia in 1894-95, with an amazing debut which included taking 8 for 43
with his slinging, round-arm bowling and scoring 38 and 72 (both not out) with the bat
. He followed this up in the next match in Sydney
, Australia, by scoring 85 (again not out), though he was strangely not asked to bowl by captain George Giffen
. Albert's brother, Harry Trott
, was named captain of the Australian team
which toured England in 1896, though Albert's form (which saw him average 102.5 with the bat in the Test series against England) was, remarkably, insufficient to merit tour selection.
Despite his omission from the team, Trott sailed to England independently and, with the help of the Australian cricketer and Test umpire Jim Phillips
, played for Middlesex
. Trott's penchant for the spectacular did not fail him: he became the first (and to this day the only) batsman to hit a ball over the current Lord's
pavilion
, bludgeoning Monty Noble
out of the ground on 31 July 1899. The ball landed in the garden of Philip Need's home, the Lord's dressing room attendant. At the time, Trott had been playing for the MCC and Ground against the Australians. He was widely acknowledged as the finest all-round cricketer on the planet. A true student of the game, Trott's bowling relied less on pace than it did on guile and spin; he rarely bowled two balls alike. Trott was a dynamo in the field, with the ball seldom escaping his commodious clutch. He regularly turned matches for Middlesex with his powerful hitting.
However, from 1901 or 1902, Trott declined abruptly because, owing to a rapid increase in his weight and loss of mobility, he could not bowl the very fast ball that was so deadly in his early years. His haul of wickets fell rapidly: from 176 in 1901 to 133 in 1902 and 105 in 1903. By 1905, he was extremely expensive and ineffective (taking only 62 wickets), and only in the very dry summer of 1906 did his batting reach the levels of his early years with Middlesex.
Trott's ability to entertain never left him. His popularity rose as he enjoyed regular ale
s with spectators on the boundary while fielding
. In his benefit match
in 1907, he took an amazing double hat trick (four wickets in four balls), and then followed up with a second hat trick later in the innings (the feat of two hat-tricks in an innings has been repeated only once in first-class cricket
, by Joginder Rao
). However, the early end to the match meant that it did not raise as much money for him as it might have done, and he is said to have remarked that he had "bowled himself into the poorhouse
".
on the back of a laundry
ticket, leaving his wardrobe
and £4 to his landlady. Shortly afterwards, he shot himself in Willesden Green, Middlesex
.
He was buried at Willesdon New Cemetery in plot 613P at the expense of Middlesex County Cricket Club
. A headstone was erected in 1994.
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er for both Australia and England. He was named as one of Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
The Wisden Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season"...
in 1899. He remains the only batsman who has struck a ball over the top of the Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
pavilion
Cricket pavilion
A cricket pavilion is a pavilion at a cricket ground. It is the main building within which the players usually change in dressing rooms and which is the main location for watching the cricket match for members and others...
. Despite his notoriety, having played in 375 first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
matches, he died almost penniless when he committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
at the age of 41.
Birth
He was born Albert Edwin Trott in AbbotsfordAbbotsford, Victoria
Abbotsford is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra. At the 2006 Census, Abbotsford had a population of 4,327....
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Cricket career
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
history. He burst onto the Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
scene against England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Australia in 1894-95, with an amazing debut which included taking 8 for 43
Scoring (cricket)
Scoring in cricket matches involves citing two facts, the number of runs scored by each team and the number of wickets each has lost. These are the basic figures likely to be quoted in a media report on a match completed or still in progress....
with his slinging, round-arm bowling and scoring 38 and 72 (both not out) with the bat
Cricket bat
A cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batsmen in the sport of cricket to hit the ball. It is usually made of willow wood. Its use is first mentioned in 1624....
. He followed this up in the next match in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia, by scoring 85 (again not out), though he was strangely not asked to bowl by captain George Giffen
George Giffen
George Giffen was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. An all-rounder who batted in the middle order and often opened the bowling with medium-paced off-spin, Giffen captained Australia during the 1894–95 Ashes series and was the first Australian to score 10,000 runs and...
. Albert's brother, Harry Trott
Harry Trott
George Henry Stevens "Harry" Trott was an Australian Test cricketer who played 24 Test matches as an all-rounder between 1888 and 1898. Although Trott was a versatile batsman, spin bowler and outstanding fielder, "... it is as a captain that he is best remembered, an understanding judge of...
, was named captain of the Australian team
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
which toured England in 1896, though Albert's form (which saw him average 102.5 with the bat in the Test series against England) was, remarkably, insufficient to merit tour selection.
Despite his omission from the team, Trott sailed to England independently and, with the help of the Australian cricketer and Test umpire Jim Phillips
Jim Phillips
James Phillips was a Victorian First-class cricketer and Test match umpire....
, played for Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
. Trott's penchant for the spectacular did not fail him: he became the first (and to this day the only) batsman to hit a ball over the current Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
pavilion
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
, bludgeoning Monty Noble
Monty Noble
Montague Alfred Noble was an Australian cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-hand batsman, right-handed bowler who could deliver both medium pace and off-break bowling, capable fieldsman and tactically sound captain, Noble is considered as one of the great Australian...
out of the ground on 31 July 1899. The ball landed in the garden of Philip Need's home, the Lord's dressing room attendant. At the time, Trott had been playing for the MCC and Ground against the Australians. He was widely acknowledged as the finest all-round cricketer on the planet. A true student of the game, Trott's bowling relied less on pace than it did on guile and spin; he rarely bowled two balls alike. Trott was a dynamo in the field, with the ball seldom escaping his commodious clutch. He regularly turned matches for Middlesex with his powerful hitting.
However, from 1901 or 1902, Trott declined abruptly because, owing to a rapid increase in his weight and loss of mobility, he could not bowl the very fast ball that was so deadly in his early years. His haul of wickets fell rapidly: from 176 in 1901 to 133 in 1902 and 105 in 1903. By 1905, he was extremely expensive and ineffective (taking only 62 wickets), and only in the very dry summer of 1906 did his batting reach the levels of his early years with Middlesex.
Trott's ability to entertain never left him. His popularity rose as he enjoyed regular ale
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...
s with spectators on the boundary while fielding
Fielding (cricket)
Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the batsman, in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball in flight or running the batsman out.Cricket fielding position...
. In his benefit match
Benefit (sports)
A benefit or testimonial is a match or season of activities granted by a sporting body to a loyal sportsman to boost their income before retirement. Often this is in the form of a match for which all the ticket proceeds are given to the player in question.There have been occasions when a...
in 1907, he took an amazing double hat trick (four wickets in four balls), and then followed up with a second hat trick later in the innings (the feat of two hat-tricks in an innings has been repeated only once in first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
, by Joginder Rao
Joginder Rao
Joginder Singh Rao was an Indian cricketer: a right-arm medium pace bowler who played only five first-class games, all for Services in the 1963-64 Ranji Trophy, but who is notable for having not only taken a hat-trick on debut, but for following that up with two more in the same innings of his...
). However, the early end to the match meant that it did not raise as much money for him as it might have done, and he is said to have remarked that he had "bowled himself into the poorhouse
Poorhouse
A poorhouse or workhouse was a government-run facility in the past for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality....
".
Death
In 1914, Trott wrote his willWill (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
on the back of a laundry
Laundry
Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered...
ticket, leaving his wardrobe
Wardrobe
A Wardrobe is a cabinet used for storing clothes.Wardrobe may also refer to:* Wardrobe , a full set of multiple clothing items* Wardrobe , part of royal administration in medieval England...
and £4 to his landlady. Shortly afterwards, he shot himself in Willesden Green, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
.
He was buried at Willesdon New Cemetery in plot 613P at the expense of Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
. A headstone was erected in 1994.
See also
- History of Test cricket (1884 to 1889)History of Test cricket (1884 to 1889)The history of Test cricket between 1884 and 1889 was one of English dominance over the Australians. England won every Test series that was played. The period also saw the first use of the word "Test" to describe a form of cricket when the Press used it in 1885...
- History of Test cricket (1890 to 1900)History of Test cricket (1890 to 1900)Test matches in the 19th century were somewhat different affairs than what they are today. Many of them were not designated as Test matches for many years afterwards, and it is possible that some Test players never knew they had played in a Test. Before 1888 there had been 26 Test matches, all...