Nobby Clarke

One of club cricket’s great characters  must have been RA ‘Nobby’ Clarke  writes the late Jack Hyams. He was a colleague of his at Cockfosters CC who stood 5 feet 9 inches tall but weighed 23 stones. Nobby was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps and lost the 1st and 3rd fingers of his right hand during the 1st world War during a skirmish with a Fokker Wolf. After the war he became a scorer for Gravesend CC 1st XI. Although as a youth he had been a slim and coached as a batsman because of his injured bowling hand and gland trouble he thought his playing days were over and he put on increasing weight. However one evening at the nets the 1st XI captain, a Mr Dodds, noticed that the club opening bat called Evans who was a prolific scorer was having some difficulty with Nobby’s high deliveries which he was bowling with great accuracy.
 He said to Nobby Clarke who was then 28 years old……

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