Harold Gimblett - Test Cricketer

Test Cricketer

That Wisden assessment was made to look unduly modest within weeks of the start of the 1936 season. Regular opening batsman Jack Lee had been allowed to leave Somerset to become coach at Mill Hill School, and Gimblett was promoted to open the innings against the Indians in Somerset's first match of the season. He made 103 and then an unbeaten 46 as Somerset won the match by nine wickets after making the Indians follow on. In the very next match against Lancashire at Old Trafford, he did even better with 93 in the first innings and an unbeaten 160 in the second, when he held on with the Somerset tail-enders to deny Lancashire victory. That gave him fleetingly a season's batting average of more than 200, and he followed that up with a third century a week later against the admittedly weak Northamptonshire side. This form earned Gimblett selection for the Test trial match for the series against the Indian team, a match between North and South at Lord's that featured a mix of established Test players and up-and-coming young players. Gimblett failed in the match, scoring just four runs in his only innings. He was nonetheless selected for the England team for the first Test of the 1936 series in an experimental opening partnership with Arthur Mitchell of Yorkshire.

Gimblett's first Test appearance was the most successful of his short Test career. In a low-scoring match in which the Indian team led England by 13 on the first innings, it was Gimblett's top-scoring 67 not out in the second innings that brought victory to his side. England had been set 107 to win, but with a damp pitch and uncertain weather, "the task could not be regarded as an easy one," Wisden wrote. It went on: "As Gimblett got the pace of the wicket, he developed sound hitting powers and hooked superbly." In partnership with Maurice Turnbull, who made 37, Gimblett hit off the runs in 100 minutes, playing "with much skill and verve".

Gimblett's status as one of the coming men of English cricket was confirmed by his selection on the Players' side for the Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's, one of the centrepieces of the English cricket season. He was not a success, making just three and one. But he retained his place in the England team for the second Test at Old Trafford, opening this time with the Kent batsman Arthur Fagg, who was making his Test debut. This time, Gimblett failed, making just nine in England's single innings. The carrot at the end of the 1936 season was selection for the MCC team to tour Australia and New Zealand in the 1936-37 season; the side was picked in early August, and Gimblett was not named in it, the young opening batsmen selected being Fagg and Charles Barnett, who replaced Gimblett for the third and final Test match against India. In fact, Gimblett's form for the second half of the 1936 season was patchy, and from the high of averaging 200 with the bat in May he ended up at the end of the season with an aggregate of 1608 runs at an average of 32.81, half a dozen runs per innings less than both Fagg and Barnett. Wisden noted that he had achieved "nothing of note" in important matches apart from his "dashing" 67 in his first Test. It went on: "As his slip-fielding fell rather below international standard, it became abundantly clear that he could not yet be labelled an England player." And it repeated criticism of a year before about lack of discretion: "Using the horizontal bat with a great amount of freedom, he frequently fell, through lack of discrimination in selecting the right ball to hit, to catches on the leg-side. Still, most of his faults were due to inexperience, and as he is only 22 years of age his career will be watched with interest beyond the confines of his own county."

David Foot's biography of Gimblett indicates that this 1936 season, although one of his most successful, also showed early signs of the illness that was to afflict him later. He reacted badly to being criticised for dropping an easy catch in the Old Trafford Test, and when he himself was dropped from the team for the final Test, he responded with relief: "'Thank goodness that's over,' he said to anyone within earshot." Foot wrote: "The Lord's and Old Trafford Tests became painful rather than treasured memories; he pleaded silently that he would not ever be selected again."

In contrast to the drama of 1936, the 1937 and 1938 seasons were quiet ones for Gimblett. Other batsmen of his own age, such as Leonard Hutton, moved ahead of him in the Test pecking order, and he was at times not fully fit. He completed 1000 runs easily in both seasons and there were occasional innings of brilliance: at Wells in 1937, he made 141 in 150 minutes with nine sixes and 16 fours against Hampshire. In 1938, Wisden noted that he was, at times, more defensive than he had been previously, and in run-getting he was overshadowed by his opening partner, Frank Lee, who scored more than 2,000 runs in the season. For some matches in 1938, Gimblett batted at No 4, Bertie Buse opening with Lee.

Gimblett had another of his "purple patches" early in the 1939 season, which was his most successful so far. He scored 905 runs in the first seven Somerset matches, including five centuries in successive matches. Wisden noted, though, that he now revealed "less of the electrifying methods that first brought him to the front". The return to form brought him back into Test contention. He was picked for the first Test against West Indies at Lord's, opening with Hutton and making 22 and 20. In the second innings, with England needing fast runs for victory, he hit the first two balls bowled by fast bowler Leslie Hylton for four and six. He did not retain his place in the Test team, but played in the Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's, making 52 in the Players' first innings. In the season as a whole, he made 1922 runs at an average of 40.89.