Herbie Hewett - Batsman of The Year

Batsman of The Year

Hewett's first three matches of the 1892 season were for representative sides against the universities. He reached double figures in each of his six innings, and scored a half-century for the Gentlemen of England against Cambridge. On returning to Somerset, he did not score a half-century until his third match, making 54 against Oxford University. He passed 50 on twelve occasions during the season, the most during any season of his career. In late August, playing Yorkshire, Hewett scored 201 out of a partnership of 346, establishing a record for the first wicket in first-class cricket, surpassing W.G. Grace and Bransby Cooper's 1869 total of 283. Although their record has since been beaten in first-class cricket, it remains Somerset's record partnership for the first wicket. Their partnership was described as "Pure grace at one end, sheer force at the other", in H.S. Altham and E. W. Swanton's A History of Cricket. At the time, The Daily Telegraph reported that the pair remained together for three and half hours, during which Hewett scored 30 fours.

Hewett finished the season with 1,047 runs for Somerset, making him the only batsman in England to score 1,000 runs in county matches. In total he scored 1,407 first-class runs, the most by any batsman, and was third in the amateur batting averages. He was named as one of the Five Batsmen of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1893, in which it was claimed that "had it been necessary last August to put a representative England eleven into the field, Hewett would undoubtedly have been given a place." Under Hewett's captaincy, Somerset won eight, drew three and lost five matches in 1892, finishing third in the County Championship, which would remain their highest position for over 100 years, until the county were runners-up in the competition in 2001. The Times praised the county's achievements during the year, and reserved special praise for Hewett; "Somerset's many brilliant feats, and the fine play of Messrs. Hewett and Palairet in particular, were a marked feature of this year's cricket." After the close of the County Championship, Hewett appeared in three representative matches, captaining the West to victory over the East, and appearing under the captaincy of W.G. Grace for both the South and the Gentlemen v Players.