Image Credit- Twitter (X)
The 81-year-old
former legspinner for Essex and England, Robin Hobbs, passed away.
Before Ian Salisbury made his debut for England against Pakistan in 1992, Hobbs
was the only experienced legspinner to play for the country. He made his
England debut against India at Headingley in 1967 and went on to take 12
wickets in seven Test matches over the following four years.
After being hired by Trevor Bailey in 1961, he emerged as a crucial element of
Essex’s team on the county stage. He played in 325 matches over 15 seasons,
collecting 763 wickets at an exact average of 26.00.
In 1964, he earned
his maiden cap for Essex. He left the club in 1975, and he concluded his career
at Glamorgan, where he unexpectedly returned to first-class cricket as captain
in 1979. In 1981, he played his last game at Colchester against his old team,
where he finished with five wickets.
On the other hand, Hobbs’ career best bowling figures of 8 for 63 came for
Essex against Glamorgan at Swansea in 1966. His 1000th wicket contributed to a
memorable victory over Worcestershire, the defending county champions, in 1975.
Hobbs concluded his career with 1,099 wickets overall.
Despite not being
particularly well-known for his batting, Hobbs amassed just under 5000
first-class runs during his career, including two hundreds. The final century,
which he achieved against the touring Australians in 1975, came off 46 balls
and won him the prized Walter Lawrence Trophy for the fastest hundred of the
season.
His son Nick broke the news of his passing on X, the former Twitter platform,
writing, “Today I said goodbye to my best mate.” Peace be with you,
my mate.”
Speaking to BBC
Essex Sport in 2020, Hobbs said: “I look back on it with great pleasure
that I got over 1,000 wickets as a legspinner because it will never be done
again now, with the reduction of county cricket matches. I was very, very lucky
in my career”.