Clem Hill

67

Clem Hill : biography

18 March 1877 – 5 September 1945

Hill married Florence Hart in Tasmania in 1905. The couple settled in Adelaide and raised two daughters, Lesley and Brenda. When he took up his role with the VATC, Hill and his family moved to Toorak, an eastern suburb of Melbourne. In 1945, Hill was thrown from a tram in a traffic accident on busy Collins Street in inner Melbourne. He was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital and died there soon after aged 68. His body was returned for burial at North Road Cemetery in the Adelaide suburb of Nailsworth.

Style and personality

Hill demonstrating his unusual grip and stance Short and stocky, Hill was a gifted batsman who could score quickly when required. Wisden described Hill as a "specially brilliant batsman on hard pitches". He had an awkward crouched stance, gripping the bat low on the handle. This limited his forward reach and power and reduced his effectiveness when driving but he compensated for this with quick footwork. Hill’s strong bottom hand and his keen eye allowed him to play the cut shot cleanly and with confidence and to hit powerfully on the leg side. He preferred batting against fast bowling rather than slow and medium pace bowlers and he was a fearless exponent of the hook shot. Hill had a tendency to get out in the "nervous nineties", being dismissed six times between 90 and 99 in Test matches., Cricinfo. Retrieved on 19 December 2008. This included a sequence in the 1901–02 series against England of 99, 98 and 97 in successive innings.

An excellent fielder in the deep, Hill had a powerful throwing arm. During a match at Leeds during the 1902 tour of England, he threw a ball from near the boundary, knocking down the stumps at one end and rebounding to hit the stumps the other end. During the same tour at Old Trafford, Hill made a catch that Wisden claimed "will never be forgotten by [those present]". A Dick Lilley hit to square leg looked likely to clear the boundary. Hill himself said he raced for it with a view simply to save a boundary. In the event, he ran round ‘close to the boundary’ from his position at long on, aided by the wind seemingly holding up the ball to take the catch low down in front of the pavilion in his outstretched hands; one that Wisden said "few fieldsmen would have thought worth attempting".

Hill was a man of high ideals and was popular with his fellow players. Pelham Warner commented on his pleasant nature and Robert Trumble, an author and son of Hugh Trumble, recalled him as honest, direct and without guile. An anecdote told about Hill had him hitting a low shot into shadows where Warren Bardsley was fielding. He completed one run and then asked the umpire if the ball had been caught. The shadow made it impossible for the umpire to see, so Hill then asked Bardsley, "Did you catch it?" When Bardsley replied in the affirmative, Hill immediately walked to the pavilion. When England won four Tests in a row in 1911–12, Hill managed to retain the confidence of his players. Frank Iredale wrote that Hill was a cheery skipper whose men were happy under his leadership. Despite breaking many records, Hill showed little awareness of them. When watching Jack Hobbs break his record for the most runs in Test cricket at Headingley in 1926, it was Hobbs’ wife sitting nearby who had to remind Hill that the record was previously his.

Test cricket

Selection and early career

Hill topped the averages for South Australia in the 1895–96 season, scoring 371 runs in seven innings. An Australian team to tour England in 1896 was selected towards the end of the season and Hill was not included. A disappointed Hill responded by scoring 206 against New South Wales, who were captained by an Australian selector, Tom Garrett. Experienced cricket watchers were impressed with Hill’s ability at such a young age to control the strike, scoring 154 from his side’s last 197 runs. Following this performance, public demand saw the selectors draft the 19-year-old Hill into the touring squad.