DEATH OF BOBBY ABEL

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 37, 13 February 1937, Page 14 (Supplement)

DEATH OF BOBBY ABEL

LITTLE MAN WHO WON GREATNESS FAMED IN SURREY CRICKET The death of Robert Abel removes another of the great names from the roll of cricketers of a generation ago. Bobby Abel was 79 years of age and for a long time he had been nearly blind and his health far from good. Abel’s name is associated with those of Brockwell, Hayward, D. L. A. Jephson, and other brilliant players of Surrey’s most successful era. He began his county cricket late—at the age of 24—in 1881, and he finished it early, in 1904, because the eyesight trouble which had affected him on and off for a number of seasons became more apparent and the use of glasses did not entirely counteract It. In this period of 23 years he proved that a self-taught batsman of small stature could become the complete master of any type of bowling. Abel had patience, but he was never overcautious, and few men of his time could so completely put a curb on a fast bowler. His chief strokes were on the leg side, and he scorned to adopt the stance which later became so fashionable and necessitated the use of the pads so largely instead of the bat. Abel began his career with Surrey almost as a club cricketer, but In three years he had made his name famous. During the course of his cricket life he played eight innings of 200 or over, and some of his partnerships with Brockwell and Hayward will go down in history with those of the famous Yorkshire pair, Brown and Tunnicliffe. One of the most productive of these partnerships was 379 with Brockwell against Hampshire at the Oval in August, 1897, but the biggest stand of all was his fourth wicket innings with Tom Hayward of 448 for Surrey against Yorkshire two years later. For eight years together, from 1895 to 1902, he scored over 2000 runs in each season of first-class cricket. The biggest innings of his life was 357 not out for Surrey against Somerset at the Oval in 1899. He was a brilliant field in the slips and a fairly successful slow bowler. His fame never spoilt him. He remained quiet and unassuming throughout his days, all of which, even when his playing career was ended, were spent in the shadow of his beloved Oval.