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Wally Hardinge
Harold Thomas William Hardinge (25 February 1886 – 8 May 1965), known as Wally Hardinge, was an English professional sportsman who played both cricket and association football for England. His professional cricket career lasted from 1902 to 1933 during which he played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and made one Test match appearance for England. He was described as being "for years ... one of the leading opening batsmen in England".
He played football at the top domestic level between 1905 and 1921 for Newcastle United, Sheffield United and Arsenal and also made a single international appearance for England in that sport. He briefly managed Tottenham Hotspur after he retired as a sportsman.
Hardinge was born in 1886 at Greenwich in Kent. He was the son of William and Ellen Hardinge, his father being a seaman.
In a first-class cricket career lasting 32 years from the age of 16, Hardinge scored 33,519 runs and made 75 centuries. He was coached by Captain William McCanlis at Kent's Tonbridge Nursery from the age of 13 and made his debut for the County in August 1902 against Lancashire at Tonbridge at the age of 16. He was the youngest player to make their first-class debut for Kent until 2006 and is still the second youngest debutant for the county. He became a regular in the team in 1907 when he was capped by the County. He played in the four Kent County Championship winning teams of the period between 1906 and 1913 and was named as one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year in 1915.
Hardinge was considered a "reliable opening batsman" who became "one of the mainstays of the Kent eleven" by 1911. He passed 1,000 runs for a season 18 times and scored more than 2,000 runs five times, his best season being 1928 when, at 42 years of age, he scored 2,446 runs at an average of just under 60 runs per innings. He scored centuries in four consecutive innings in 1913 and four times scored centuries in both innings of a match. In 1921, he became only the third cricketer, after C. B. Fry and Warwick Armstrong, to score a double-century and a century in the same match.
His one appearance in Test cricket came against Armstrong's touring Australian team in 1921 at Headingley in a match where Jack Hobbs had to withdraw on the opening day because of appendicitis. Hardinge scored 25 and 5 and was not picked again, although he did play twice in war-time matches for an England team against the Dominions in 1918. He was refused leave of absence to tour Australia in 1928–29 by his employer and had been unable to tour with England whilst he was playing professional football.
As of 2017 his runs total puts him 46th on the all-time list of runs scored in first-class cricket. He is Kent's second leading run scorer after his contemporary Frank Woolley and second, also to Woolley, in the County's all time appearances list with 606, including a run of 101 consecutive County Championship appearances between 1924 and 1928. His 1928 run aggregate is the third highest in Kent's history and his highest score of 263 not out remains the ninth highest in the County's first-class history.
In his early career Hardinge was considered a more promising bowler than batsman. He bowled slow left arm spinners well enough to take 371 career wickets in a Kent team which featured great spin bowlers such as Colin Blythe and Tich Freeman as well as Woolley and Bill Fairservice. He took six wickets for nine runs on a turning pitch at the Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells in 1929 and had a career best return of 7/64 against the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's in 1932. He was described by Wisden as one of the "finest outfields in the world".
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Wally Hardinge
Harold Thomas William Hardinge (25 February 1886 – 8 May 1965), known as Wally Hardinge, was an English professional sportsman who played both cricket and association football for England. His professional cricket career lasted from 1902 to 1933 during which he played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and made one Test match appearance for England. He was described as being "for years ... one of the leading opening batsmen in England".
He played football at the top domestic level between 1905 and 1921 for Newcastle United, Sheffield United and Arsenal and also made a single international appearance for England in that sport. He briefly managed Tottenham Hotspur after he retired as a sportsman.
Hardinge was born in 1886 at Greenwich in Kent. He was the son of William and Ellen Hardinge, his father being a seaman.
In a first-class cricket career lasting 32 years from the age of 16, Hardinge scored 33,519 runs and made 75 centuries. He was coached by Captain William McCanlis at Kent's Tonbridge Nursery from the age of 13 and made his debut for the County in August 1902 against Lancashire at Tonbridge at the age of 16. He was the youngest player to make their first-class debut for Kent until 2006 and is still the second youngest debutant for the county. He became a regular in the team in 1907 when he was capped by the County. He played in the four Kent County Championship winning teams of the period between 1906 and 1913 and was named as one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year in 1915.
Hardinge was considered a "reliable opening batsman" who became "one of the mainstays of the Kent eleven" by 1911. He passed 1,000 runs for a season 18 times and scored more than 2,000 runs five times, his best season being 1928 when, at 42 years of age, he scored 2,446 runs at an average of just under 60 runs per innings. He scored centuries in four consecutive innings in 1913 and four times scored centuries in both innings of a match. In 1921, he became only the third cricketer, after C. B. Fry and Warwick Armstrong, to score a double-century and a century in the same match.
His one appearance in Test cricket came against Armstrong's touring Australian team in 1921 at Headingley in a match where Jack Hobbs had to withdraw on the opening day because of appendicitis. Hardinge scored 25 and 5 and was not picked again, although he did play twice in war-time matches for an England team against the Dominions in 1918. He was refused leave of absence to tour Australia in 1928–29 by his employer and had been unable to tour with England whilst he was playing professional football.
As of 2017 his runs total puts him 46th on the all-time list of runs scored in first-class cricket. He is Kent's second leading run scorer after his contemporary Frank Woolley and second, also to Woolley, in the County's all time appearances list with 606, including a run of 101 consecutive County Championship appearances between 1924 and 1928. His 1928 run aggregate is the third highest in Kent's history and his highest score of 263 not out remains the ninth highest in the County's first-class history.
In his early career Hardinge was considered a more promising bowler than batsman. He bowled slow left arm spinners well enough to take 371 career wickets in a Kent team which featured great spin bowlers such as Colin Blythe and Tich Freeman as well as Woolley and Bill Fairservice. He took six wickets for nine runs on a turning pitch at the Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells in 1929 and had a career best return of 7/64 against the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's in 1932. He was described by Wisden as one of the "finest outfields in the world".