77 Facts About Clem Hill

Clement "Clem" Hill was an Australian cricketer who played 49 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1896 and 1912.

Clem Hill captained the Australian team in ten Tests, winning five and losing five.

Clem Hill is regarded as one of the best batsman of his era.

Clem Hill gripped the bat low on the handle, playing with a strong bottom hand.

Clem Hill normally batted at No 3 and, along with his contemporary Victor Trumper, he was a mainstay of the Australian batting line-up in the early years of the 20th century.

Clem Hill had a strong throwing arm and was an excellent outfielder.

Clem Hill was a popular team-mate and captain, respected for his directness, honesty and cheerfulness.

Clem Hill played his first first-class cricket match for South Australia while still a schoolboy, aged 16.

At the Melbourne Cricket Ground two years later, Clem Hill scored 188; his maiden Test century and still the highest score in Ashes Tests by a player under 21.

Clem Hill was named one of Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1899, despite missing half the English season due to illness.

Clem Hill turned down an invitation to tour England in 1909 due to his unhappiness with the contract terms offered.

Clem Hill was one of the "Big Six", a group of leading Australian cricketers who boycotted the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England when the players were stripped of the right to appoint the tour manager.

Clem Hill died in 1945 aged 68 when thrown from a tram in Melbourne in a traffic accident.

Clem Hill was one of eight sons and eight daughters in a family that was heavily involved in cricket.

Clem Hill's father scored a century for North Adelaide against the touring Kent County Cricket Club, reportedly the first century scored at the Adelaide Oval.

Clem Hill's father was prominent in the Methodist Church and sent Clem Hill to be educated at Prince Alfred College, the local Methodist school.

Clem Hill played his first inter-collegiate match at the age of 13, keeping wicket and batting at number ten.

Clem Hill's hands suffered from keeping wicket to the fast bowling of future Test team-mate Ernie Jones, leading to a decision to concentrate on batting.

Clem Hill made his first-class cricket debut in March 1893 while still a schoolboy, just nine days past his 16th birthday.

Later the same season, Clem Hill became a regular member of the South Australian team, making his Sheffield Shield debut against Victoria.

The English team returned to the Adelaide Oval and this time Clem Hill scored his maiden first-class century, 150 not out, against quality bowlers including Tom Richardson and Bobby Peel.

Clem Hill was a talented Australian rules footballer and played for the South Adelaide Football Club during the 1890s and early 1900s.

An Australian team to tour England in 1896 was selected towards the end of the season and Clem Hill was not included.

Clem Hill was one of four batsmen touring England for the first time; Joe Darling, Frank Iredale and Harry Donnan were the others.

Clem Hill made his Test debut in the First Test at Lord's.

Australia collapsed in the first innings to be all out for 53 with Clem Hill bowled by George Lohmann for one.

Clem Hill failed again scoring only five, bowled this time by Jack Hearne.

The touring team's first match on arrival was against South Australia and Clem Hill batted well, scoring exactly 200.

Batting again, Clem Hill scored 96 but England managed to win the match by nine wickets.

When Clem Hill reached his maiden Test century, he had scored all but 42 of his side's runs.

Clem Hill played balls pitched outside leg stump particularly well and drove beautifully throughout the innings.

At the tea interval, Clem Hill, feeling refreshed, mentioned to Trumble that he thought he would "have a go at them now".

Clem Hill's innings remains the highest in Ashes Tests by a player under 21.

The after-effects of the operation were more serious than expected; Clem Hill lost an alarming amount of weight and strength and missed around half of the tour.

Clem Hill scored 135, sharing a partnership of 82 with Victor Trumper, who was playing only his second Test match.

Clem Hill is still the only person to achieve this most unusual feat.

Clem Hill was the victim of bad luck during this sequence of scores between 90 and 99.

Clem Hill chopped down on a ball when 97 and then, to his horror, saw the ball rolling back towards his stumps.

Clem Hill attempted to hit the ball away from the stumps but accidentally knocked the leg bail and was out, bowled.

Clem Hill visited England for a third time in 1902 with the Australian team who won their fourth successive Test series.

When Reggie Duff was dismissed in the second innings, Clem Hill joined Trumper at the wicket.

Clem Hill was followed quickly by the captain, Darling, out for a duck.

Clem Hill had given two difficult chances, one at slip when 74 and in the outfield at 77 before he was caught by MacLaren from the bowling of Jackson for 119.

Batting with Trumper, Clem Hill had run well past the stumps at the bowler's end for a fourth run.

Clem Hill scored 88 before being dismissed by Ted Arnold, caught by the wicket-keeper.

Clem Hill toured England for the last time with the 1905 Australian team.

Clem Hill was somewhat indiscriminate in hitting at the off-ball, and many a time his impatience cost him his wicket.

Clem Hill by now was a team selector and strongly opposed the selection in the team of 40-year-old Peter McAlister, who Clem Hill claimed "was past his best" and "not suited to English conditions".

Clem Hill accused his fellow selectors of conspiracy and said he had "decided to wash his hands of the affair" and that "he did not consider that the best men had been chosen".

Clem Hill was a delegate on the Board of Control, representing the South Australian Cricket Association.

Clem Hill, after consulting with other players, settled on a strategy of hitting the bowlers off their length with aggressive batting.

Matters came to a head when Clem Hill sent a telegram to fellow selector, Peter McAlister, urging the inclusion of the New South Wales all-rounder Charlie Macartney in the team for the Fourth Test in Melbourne.

Clem Hill told Smith he could no longer work with McAlister.

Smith then asked Clem Hill to put his resignation in writing and the Board accepted it that evening.

When Clem Hill reached the batting crease in his last Test at Sydney, the umpire Bob Crockett said "there were tears in his eyes".

Clem Hill was then offered an invitation to take part in the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England.

Clem Hill declined the invitation, along with Warwick Armstrong, Trumper, Carter, Noble and Vernon Ransford, who collectively became known as the "Big Six".

At the age of 43, Clem Hill returned to first-class cricket for one match to assist in its re-establishment in Australia after the Great War.

In 2003, the South Australian Cricket Association named the new southern grandstand at the Adelaide Oval the "Clem Hill Stand" in recognition of his contribution to South Australian cricket.

Clem Hill was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2005.

Clem Hill served an engineering apprenticeship at the government workshops in Islington.

On retirement from cricket Clem Hill began a career in horse racing administration.

Clem Hill was employed as a stipendiary steward with the South Australian Jockey Club and the Adelaide Racing Club and in 1937 he was appointed handicapper for the Victoria Amateur Turf Club in Melbourne.

Clem Hill served in this role for six years before poor health saw him take a less demanding role at the Geelong Racing Club.

In 1945, Clem Hill was thrown from a tram in a traffic accident on busy Collins Street in inner Melbourne.

Clem Hill was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital and died there soon after aged 68.

Clem Hill's body was returned for burial at North Road Cemetery in the Adelaide suburb of Nailsworth.

Short and stocky, Clem Hill was a gifted batsman who could score quickly when required.

Clem Hill had an awkward crouched stance, gripping the bat low on the handle.

Clem Hill preferred batting against fast bowling rather than slow and medium pace bowlers and he was a fearless exponent of the hook shot.

Clem Hill had a tendency to get out in the "nervous nineties", being dismissed six times between 90 and 99 in Test matches.

An excellent fielder in the deep, Clem Hill had a powerful throwing arm.

Clem Hill himself said he raced 25 yards for it with a view simply to save a boundary.

Clem Hill was a man of high ideals and was popular with his fellow players.

An anecdote told about Clem Hill had him hitting a low shot into shadows where Warren Bardsley was fielding.

Clem Hill completed one run and then asked the umpire if the ball had been caught.

Frank Iredale wrote that Clem Hill was a cheery skipper whose men were happy under his leadership.