Hugh Trumble

TRUMBLE, MR. HUGH, died at Melbourne on August 14, aged 71. Improving almost beyond belief each succeeding time he came to England, Hugh Trumble has been very properly placed among the most accomplished of Australian bowlers. Exceptionally tall, he made the most of his height by bringing the ball over at the full extent of his right arm so that " flighting," a new term since his days, came in the natural delivery. Length, with either leg or off-break, and pace slightly varied to medium were the means employed by Trumble and experience enabled him to deceive the best batsmen on perfect pitches while, given any help from the state of the turf, he was deadly. After doing moderately in 1890, when Turner and Ferris were in their prime, he stood out as a front rank bowler in 1893 and his other three tours, at similar intervals, increased his reputation in England. Such consistent form did he show that his figures in the four tours after his quiet start read- 123 wickets at 16.39; 148 at 15.81; 142 at 18.43: and 140 at 14.27. His success in 1899 was not confined to bowling, for he scored 1,183 runs with average 27.51, so proving himself quite as valuable an all-rounder as M. A. Noble, particularly as he was a fine slip fieldsman.

Trumble in matches against England had the unequalled record in these Tests of 141 wickets at 20.88 each and a batting average of nearly 20 for an aggregate of 838 runs. When A. C. MacLaren led England in 1901-02, Trumble took 28 wickets; in the following summer 26 at 14.26 and against the first official M.C.C. team captained by P. F. Warner in the winter of 1903-04 his return for the Tests was 24 wickets at 16.58. Only Trumble has done the hat-trick twice against England, each at Melbourne in the last two tours mentioned. His best Test performances were 12 wickets for 89 at the Oval in 1896; 10 for 128 at Manchester, when Australia won by 3 runs; and 12 for 173 also in 1902 at the Oval where England won by one wicket, these three matches being among the most remarkable between the two countries. In England's first innings at the Oval in 1902, he dismissed A. C. MacLaren, L. C. H. Palairet, J. T. Tyldesley, T. Hayward, L. C. Braund, G. L. Jessop, G. H. Hirst and A. A. Lilley--eight wickets- at a cost of only 65 runs. He also bowled unchanged while England were getting the 253 runs required for victory.

For Victoria in Sheffield Shield matches, Trumble took 159 wickets at 20.67 and scored 1,150 runs, average 22.54. For some twenty years Trumble was secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club where his knowledge of the game and happy spirit made him universally popular.