Edward Clark

Edward Winchester "Nobby" Clark (9 August 1902 – 28 April 1982) was a Northamptonshire and England cricketer of the inter-war period. He was regarded at the time as one of the best fast bowlers in England. Talents and limitations While Clark was playing for them, Northamptonshire was one of the weakest counties ever to play in the County Championship. Nonetheless, Clark was a bowler of genuine pace who could swing the ball in and make it break away to produce catches in the slips. He could also bowl, as Bill Voce did under Jardine, to a leg-side field, but was never as effective doing so. Like Voce, Clark often bowled round the wicket. At his best, "Nobby" Clark was the fastest professional bowler apart from Harold Larwood and his beautiful action enabled him to stand up to the considerable spells of work required of him given that Northamptonshire had little support in the field apart from Fred Bakewell at short leg. However, his fiery temperament – he would get angry over even slight problems like broken footholds or missed chances – greatly reduced Clark's appeal to selectors for Test and other representative matches. "Nobby"'s extreme weakness as a batsman further reduced his chances of competing with players who were much better bats and could bowl almost as well. Between July 1925 and June 1927 Clark played sixty-five innings without reaching double figures and he never made more than 30 in a first-class innings. Career Clark was born near Peterborough and first played for Northamptonshire as a teenager in 1922 after success in Yorkshire League cricket. He came to prominence in 1925, when he took eleven wickets in a surprise win over Kent and was in the top twenty of the national averages. Despite playing in the 1928 Test Trial, injury meant he was not seriously in contention for a place on the Ashes tour.