Hugh Bartlett

Hugh Tryon Bartlett DFC (born 7 October, 1914 in Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh, India and died 26 June, 1988 in Hove, England) was a brilliant attacking left handed batsman who played for Sussex on either side of the war.

Early years

Bartlett was born in Balaghat, India and moved to England at the age of nine. He captained Dulwich College for three seasons. In 1933 - his last season for the school - he hit two double hundreds in successive weeks and set a Dulwich record of 228 against Mill Hill ( the record stood until 2006, when Arthur Mitchell hit 230* at a lower age group [ [http://www.streathamguardian.co.uk/misc/print.php?artid=781391 News report of Mitchell breaking Bartlett's Dulwich record.] ] ). He won blues at Cambridge for three years and in 1936 captained them in the Varsity match. After a few matches with Surrey, he settled down as an amateur at Sussex.

1938

His finest year was 1938. While travelling up to Leeds to play Yorkshire in May, his captain told him : 'If you score 50 I will give you your cap ... a 50 against them is worth 100 against any other county'. Bartlett scored 94 out of 125 in 75 minutes against an attack of Bill Bowes, Hedley Verity, Smailes, Robinson and Turner. After twice hitting Verity for three sixes in an over, he was caught at the boundary by Maurice Leyland off a hit that would otherwise have gone for six. Bartlett was duly awarded his county cap. He was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1939 as a result of his achievements in the preceding season.

Later at Lord's he hit 175 not out for the Gentlemen against the Players. One six off Morris Nichols deposited the ball in a grandstand turret. He hit Nichols for five fours in an over, Peter Smith for two fours and two sixes off another. In all, he hit 24 fours and four sixes in 165 minutes. With last man Ken Farnes (10), he added 82 in 45 minutes.

On August 27, the Australians came to Hove and Bartlett in two hours hit 157. He went to his hundred in 57 minutes - it won him the Lawrence trophy for the fastest hundred of the season - and then took 21 off an over from Frank Ward. His innings included six sixes and eighteen fours.

With 1548 runs at 57.33, he finished fifth in the averages (behind Wally Hammond, Joe Hardstaff, Jr., Len Hutton and Eddie Paynter). He hit 40 sixes in the season, second only to Arthur Wellard. He toured South Africa that winter but did not play a Test. An year later, he was picked for the Indian tour under the captaincy of A. J. Holmes, but the world war led to the cancellation of the tour.

Batting style

In the nostalgic piece about Bartlett that he wrote for "Cricket Heroes", Alan Ross remembered his batting style :

::"As a cricketer, domesticity was just not in his line. He began his innings usually as one who, suffering from violent astigmatism, has not only mislaid his glasses, but had in addition a fearful headache. He made a pass or two after the ball had gone past him: he lunged fitfully and missed: he stabbed down just in time at the straight ones: he sliced the rising offside ball over the second slip: he snicked hazily part his leg stump. So, for about a quarter of an hour, it went on: or, to such an agonized onlooker as I, it seemed to go on. Then suddenly, he would catch a half volley or a long hop such a crack that the bowler, fearful of his own safety, lost all his aggressive intention, and, with it, any idea of length."

::"Phase two then began. One no longer felt that the bowler was remotely interested in the stumps, but having scattered his fielders around the boundary, relied now, in the form of bait, on a species of poisoned chocolate. Bartlett paid scant heed to these exiled boundary creatures: at alarming rates he drove between, over, and if needs be, through them. He was a firm footed hitter, possessed of a long reach, and the trajectory of his drives was low and of a fearful power."

In the hundred against Australians, Bartlett scored just four in his first 14 minutes.

1939 and the war

In 1939, at Eastbourne against Worcestershire he scored 89 in 44 minutes. He was caught by Charles Palmer at deep extra cover off a hit that, like the one against Yorkshire, would have gone for six had he missed it. At the end of the season, he played in what was to be Hedley Verity's last match before he died in the war. On a drying wicket Verity took 7 for 9, Bartlett being one of the victims.

In the World War, Bartlett was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps. He transferred to the Royal West Kent Regiment in 1942, served in the Glider Pilot Regiment and later served as the second-in-command to Billy Griffith. He served at Normandy, Arnhem and in the Rhine crossings. In August 1945, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He reached the rank of Major. He remained in the Territorial Army after the war, returning to the RASC.

Post-war

After the war, except the odd occasion, he wasn't the stroke player that he was. He served as Billy Griffith's vice captain in 1946 and took over the captaincy for the next three seasons. In 1947, he lifted Sussex from bottom to ninth place, but they slipped back to 16 and 14 in the next two years. He scored more than a thousand runs in 1938, 1939 and 1947. Before the 1950 season, he resigned the captaincy following some disputes and returned to stockbroking. Later, he reconciled with Sussex and served as the President between 1977 and 1979.

He collapsed and died while watching Sussex play Yorkshire in a Sunday League match at Hove in 1988.

References

*Alan Ross, "Cricket Heroes" (1959) [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.sport.cricket/browse_frm/thread/e56a86f9d95f5f05/2a41742452d81b2a?q=schoolboy%27s+hero&rnum=1#2a41742452d81b2a]
*David Frith; M.C. Spurrier, Obituaries of HT Bartlett, "Wisden Cricket Monthly", August 1988

External links

* [http://hcs.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/27/27728/27728.html Cricketarchive page on HT Bartlett]
* [http://content.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/9578.html Cricinfo page on Hugh Bartlett]
* [http://au.geocities.com/sportandhistory/cricket/6s/england.html Leading six hitters in England]
* [http://www.walterlawrencetrophy.com/players/bartlett.htm Photo]
* [http://content.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/154646.html Wisden Cricketer of the Year article]