Goddard Tom Image 1 Gloucestershire 1936

Gloucester born right-arm off break bowler Tom Goddard joined Gloucestershire in 1922 as a fast bowler making his County Championship debut that year, but he met with little success in his first six years taking only 153 wickets at a cost of 34 runs each, such that he was not re-engaged by Gloucestershire for 1928. However, determined to succeed, he joined the ground staff at Lord’s and switched to off spin. Beverley Lyon, the Gloucestershire captain, saw him in the nets at Lord’s and, immediately struck by Goddard’s new-found ability, persuaded Gloucestershire to re-engage him for 1929. With his massive hands and steep bounce due to his height (about six feet three inches), he was an immediate success and he became one of the greatest off-break bowlers the game has known.

Even on the best of wickets Goddard was able to turn the ball substantially, and when the turf was worn or sticky he could spin to a remarkable degree. He earned a reputation as a voracious appealer, a sworn enemy of batsmen. Owing to his high trajectory, he could be easy to hit (it is estimated he was hit for 70 sixes a season between 1934 and 1938), and it is probable that this is why he was so expensive against the incomparable 1948 Australian side, and in some cases in County cricket.

In 1929, his first season as a spinner, he took 184 wickets, and over 140 in the following two years. With slow left-hander Charlie Parker, he formed the most lethal bowling combination in County cricket, and, aided by the brilliant batting and catching of Wally Hammond, Gloucestershire had their most successful (though brief) era, finishing fourth in 1929, second in 1930 and second in 1931.

He played only once for England against Australia when he made his Test match debut at Manchester in July 1930 and played only 8 Test matches against all countries as for much of Goddard’s time, Hedley Verity was the preferred England spin bowler, and it is often thought that leg spinners rather than off spinners were favoured at this time in Tests. His successes in the matches he played suggests he might have done well with more opportunities. He took a hat-trick against South Africa at Johannesburg in December 1938, his victims were A.D. Nourse (caught and bowled), N. Gordon (stumped) and W.W. Wade (bowled). He also played for England twice against New Zealand in 1937 and twice against West Indies in 1939, all in England. He was among the thirteen England selected for Old Trafford against Australia in 1938 when rain prevented a ball being bowled.

Goddard was forced to become Gloucestershire’s chief bowler when the seemingly ageless Parker finally declined for good in 1932. Except in 1934 and 1938 when injuries handicapped him, and in 1948 when he lost form, Goddard took over 150 wickets in every season between 1932 and 1949, heading the first class bowling averages in 1947 and 1949. In 1937 and 1947 (aided in the latter case by a sand dressing on the Bristol pitch that made the ball turn prodigiously), Goddard took 222 wickets for Gloucestershire, and fell two short of 250 wickets in all first class matches in 1937 when he was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. His first benefit, against Nottinghamshire at Gloucester in 1936, brought him £2,097 and from his second, in 1948, he received £3,355.

During the Second World War, Goddard served in the R.A.F but he was still fit enough to continue his cricket career when peacetime cricket resumed. His haul of 206 wickets in the 1947 County Championship will forever stand as the last case of 200 wickets in a season in that competition. With much slower over-rates and fewer matches, few bowlers today can take a third as many wickets.

Among his best bowling feats for Gloucestershire were:
– 17 for 106 against Kent at Bristol in 1939 with 9-38 and 8-68 in a single day – only two other bowlers have equalled this, Hedley Verity of Yorkshire and Charlie Blythe of Kent
– 16 for 99 against Worcestershire at Bristol in 1939
– 16 for 181 (all 10 wickets for 113 in second innings) against Worcestershire at Cheltenham in 1937
– 15 for 107 (9 for 20 to finish match) on a “pitch of easy pace” against Derbyshire at Bristol in 1949.
– 9 for 37 against Leicestershire at Bristol in 1934
– 9 for 82 against Surrey at Cheltenham in 1946
– 9 for 21 against Cambridge University at Cheltenham in 1929

He finished with six career hat-tricks, the same as Charlie Parker and only one less than the all-time record of seven, held by D.V.P. Wright of Kent.

In 1951, at the age of 50, Goddard was forced to retire due to an attack of pneumonia and pleurisy, but because he wanted so desperately to reach the 3,000 wicket mark, he came back for fourteen matches in 1952, even managing to pick up a ten-for, till at 51 years of age it became apparent his body could no longer support his immense will-power; he ended with 2,979 wickets at an average of 19.84, fifth on the all-time wickets tally after Wilfred Rhodes, ‘Tich’ Freeman, Parker, and Jack Hearne, having played in 593 first class matches. With a best performance of 10-113, he took ten wickets in 86 matches, and bowled 251 five wicket innings. His batting was modest averaging somewhat over 9, and he scored 4 career half centuries with a best score of 71. He also took 312 catches in first class games.

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