Walter Humphreys, born October 28, 1849, was the champion lobster who heralded the quarter century of golden swansong of lob bowling.
Frustrated by the long Australian innings, Lord Harris asked the wicketkeeper, Hon. Alfred Lyttelton, to have a go.
Tom Armitage has also gone down as the first man to bowl lobs in a Test match.
Edward Mills Grace is too versatile, successful and kaleidoscopic a personality to have his biography written as a part of a series on lob bowlers.
After the exploits of Vyell Walker and Cris Tinley, there followed a lull in the history of lob bowling. However, there were a few notable, albeit minor, lobsters.
Nicknamed ‘Cris’ and ‘Spider’, Tinley was considered by Alfred Shaw to be the greatest lobster he had seen.
VE Walker was the greatest lob bowler of his day, a fine batsman and a fantastic fielder. He was also a path-breaking captain.
William Clarke was the greatest of the lob bowlers. But, that was just a fraction of his contribution to the cause of cricket.
A champion batsman, a near-unplayable lob bowler and one of the first authors of technical manuals of the game, this fascinating pioneer was also one of the first cricketers to be banned for match-fixing.
A versatile all-round sportsman, compulsive gambler and life-long philanderer, he was one of the most colourful characters of early cricket.