Bryan Lobb
Encyclopedia
Bryan Lobb was a first-class
cricket
er who played once for Warwickshire
and then more than 100 times for Somerset
.
in 2001, the story of a run-out at Chesterfield is told by Lobb himself: "I once got run out by deep mid-on, who overtook me as I unwisely strolled to the other end".
But his bowling was no joke. From a long run-up, he got inswinging movement through the air and bounce from the pitch, all delivered with a flurry of arms and legs and fair hair.
for the preceding three seasons and with bowling largely dependent on spin. He went straight into the first team for the first match of the season and stayed there, winning his county cap in his first season. Wisden reported that he "appeared to be the best discovery made by Somerset for some years and he headed his county's bowling with 86 wickets at 25.59 each". In all matches he took 90 wickets. Somerset still finished at the foot of the Championship table, however.
Signs of improvement for the team as a whole came in 1956, with a rise to 15th place out of 17. In a wet summer, Lobb's swing and seam bowling was less effective and Wisden noted that he "would have been more effective with a reliable new-ball partner". He still took 82 wickets at an average of 26.75; Somerset's other non-spin bowlers managed only 38 Championship wickets between them.
The 1957 season was Lobb's best: in all matches, he took 110 wickets, becoming the first Somerset pace bowler to achieve that feat since the Second World War. The average too, at 19.48 runs per wicket, was much reduced. Against Cambridge University
he took seven for 63 and four for 23 for the best match figures of his career.
In 1958, Lobb produced both the finest bowling and batting performances of his career. At Bath against Yorkshire
he reached the for-him dizzy heights of 42 in a last wicket stand of 84 with Geoff Lomax
. Then at Lord's against Middlesex
he took seven wickets for 43 runs on a pitch that Wisden called "difficult". By the end of July, he had taken 51 first-class wickets at an average of 21.78. But there his season ended, through injury.
Though Lobb played in the first few Somerset matches of the 1959 season, he was from this point onwards essentially a part-time cricketer, his career interrupted first by his studies at St Luke's College, Exeter and then by his career as a schoolmaster at the Edgarley Hall prep school which is attached to Millfield School. He played a few games in 1960, reappeared in 1963, then again in 1967 and 1969. As late as 1979 he was involved in warm-up matches for the Sri Lankans in advance of the ICC Trophy
.
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...
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 who played once for Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire 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 Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
and then more than 100 times for Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset 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 Somerset...
.
Style and personality
Lobb was a tall gangling right-arm fast-medium bowler and a No 11 batsman. His fielding was the subject of amusement: "He changed course a dozen times while the ball trickled straight to him at long-leg," wrote Somerset's historian, David Foot. His batting reflected the fact that, in Foot's words, "he turned ungainliness into an art form" and he was also a poor judge of a run. In Lobb's obituary in WisdenWisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
in 2001, the story of a run-out at Chesterfield is told by Lobb himself: "I once got run out by deep mid-on, who overtook me as I unwisely strolled to the other end".
But his bowling was no joke. From a long run-up, he got inswinging movement through the air and bounce from the pitch, all delivered with a flurry of arms and legs and fair hair.
Cricket career
His one match for Warwickshire came in 1953 and brought him two wickets but no contract. He arrived in the West Country in 1955 with Somerset's cricket at a low ebb: bottom of the County ChampionshipCounty Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
for the preceding three seasons and with bowling largely dependent on spin. He went straight into the first team for the first match of the season and stayed there, winning his county cap in his first season. Wisden reported that he "appeared to be the best discovery made by Somerset for some years and he headed his county's bowling with 86 wickets at 25.59 each". In all matches he took 90 wickets. Somerset still finished at the foot of the Championship table, however.
Signs of improvement for the team as a whole came in 1956, with a rise to 15th place out of 17. In a wet summer, Lobb's swing and seam bowling was less effective and Wisden noted that he "would have been more effective with a reliable new-ball partner". He still took 82 wickets at an average of 26.75; Somerset's other non-spin bowlers managed only 38 Championship wickets between them.
The 1957 season was Lobb's best: in all matches, he took 110 wickets, becoming the first Somerset pace bowler to achieve that feat since the Second World War. The average too, at 19.48 runs per wicket, was much reduced. Against Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
he took seven for 63 and four for 23 for the best match figures of his career.
In 1958, Lobb produced both the finest bowling and batting performances of his career. At Bath against Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
he reached the for-him dizzy heights of 42 in a last wicket stand of 84 with Geoff Lomax
Geoff Lomax
James Geoffrey Lomax, born at Rochdale, Lancashire on 20 May 1925 and died in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol on 21 May 1992, played first-class cricket as a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium bowler for Lancashire and Somerset between 1949 and 1962....
. Then at Lord's against 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...
he took seven wickets for 43 runs on a pitch that Wisden called "difficult". By the end of July, he had taken 51 first-class wickets at an average of 21.78. But there his season ended, through injury.
Though Lobb played in the first few Somerset matches of the 1959 season, he was from this point onwards essentially a part-time cricketer, his career interrupted first by his studies at St Luke's College, Exeter and then by his career as a schoolmaster at the Edgarley Hall prep school which is attached to Millfield School. He played a few games in 1960, reappeared in 1963, then again in 1967 and 1969. As late as 1979 he was involved in warm-up matches for the Sri Lankans in advance of the ICC Trophy
ICC Trophy
The ICC World Cup Qualifier is an international one-day cricket tournament run under the auspices of the International Cricket Council. Any Associate or Affiliate member of the ICC may attempt to qualify for the ICC Trophy by means of a system of regional qualifying events. The test-playing Full...
.