Published: Jul 13, 2017, 03:00 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 12, 2017, 06:48 PM (IST)
May 25, 1916. The phenomenal hitter of the cricket ball, Gilbert ‘The Croucher’ Jessop, had already retired from the game and was a Captain in the army during the Great War. Arunabha Sengupta describes a harrowing experience that he had which resulted in weakening his heart for life.
May 1916. The world was at War.
Gilbert Jessop had still been a force to reckon with in 1911. Recovering from a fielding accident, he had made a brilliant hundred in the Test trial, in which his side had defeated Plum Warner’s men by 162 runs.
But the invitation to tour Australia in 1911-12 had reached him too late, and he declined. He had made 7 centuries that summer, the best in his career, but at 37 he was thinking about the future.
By 1912, his cricket had declined. He played 2 Tests against South Africa in the Triangular Test Tournament, but he managed only 3, 16 and 1. He was also the twelfth man against Australia at Lord’s but that was the end of his Test career. And at the end of the season, he retired from First-Class cricket as well.
Nevertheless, he appeared for Gloucestershire occasionally in 1913 and 1914 till The Great War intervened. Jessop was 40, but volunteered for service. He was commissioned captain in the 14th Manchester Regiment. In the company of Lieutenant Archie MacLaren, he spent the summer of 1915 in a successful recruiting campaign. He also played a lot of Army cricket while stationed in Lichfield, with 6 centuries to his credit. There were also a spectacular innings of 94 against the great SF Barnes.
He was good at throwing grenades too, with the same dexterity with which he hurled in returns with the flick of his wrists. But he was never destined to throw grenades in the battlefield.
In the early summer of 1916, Jessop had been transferred to the Lincolnshire Regiment. He was suffering from severe lumbago.
Accordingly, he was sent by the army to a clinic in Bath for treatment. According to his appointment card, the remedy consisted of ‘radiant heat, dousing with total immersion for 30 minutes at 210-300 degrees.’ That meant 100°C to 150°C.
The patient was lowered into a coffin-like apparatus and the entire contraption was steamed up. Only the head remained visible. If the man inside the container became too uncomfortable, he could raise the lid and get out.
However, when Jessop entered, accidentally the catch fell. The attendant had also gone away and therefore his cries for help were unheard. The great hitter was left to broil in nearly intolerable heat for over half an hour.
When he was eventually rescued, it was discovered his heart had undergone permanent damage. The sporting career of this great athlete had come to an abrupt end. He was just 42, but he would never play any cricket again.
In fact, in November 1917 he was invalidated out of the Army. And in June 1918, while playing golf at Walsall, he had a serious heart attack and it was only after two years that he was able to walk any distance.
Jessop lived another 37 years, and passed away only as an old 80-year-old man in 1955. However, for much of the last part of his life he was only a shadow of the magnificent athlete he had once been.
