SURREY GREATS - GEORGE LOHMANN

George Alfred Lohmann was a cricketer's cricketer. Few could have played as whole-heartedly as he did in his short career. With a reputation for being a match-winner, Lohmann was an integral member of the Surrey side that won seven County Championships, and shared another, between 1887 and 1895. Excelling in every department of the sport, such was his contribution to cricket that he died at the age of 36 from tuberculosis, having burnt himself out.

His batting and fielding would have qualified him for a place in any side, but as a medium pace bowler he was regarded by both W.G.Grace and C.B.Fry as being the finest of his era. With a career total 1,841 first-class wickets at an average of 13.73 runs apiece, he enjoyed eight consecutive 100-wicket seasons from 1885 to 1892, including three successive summers (1888-1890) in which he claimed over 200 scalps.

Bowling from both sides of the stumps, with a rhythmical and polished action off a moderate run, Lohmann was the master of flight and variation of pace; always experimenting, but never allowing his length to suffer. His more notable performances for Surrey included hauls of 8-18 against Hampshire in 1885, 8-23 at Beckenham in 1888, 8-13 against Lancashire just over a week later and 9-67 at Hove in 1889 (out of a match aggregate of 15-98).

Lord Sheffield's England team in Australia 1891-92: George Lohmann is in the back row, third from the left. Standing (l-r): R Carpenter (umpire), W Attewell, GA Lohmann, JM Read, G Bean, JW Sharpe, RA Thomas (umpire). Seated (l-r): J Briggs, G MacGregor, WG Grace, R Peel, AE Stoddart, R Abel.

George Lohmann was a quick-footed and forceful batsman, who could always be relied upon in a crisis. Scoring over 7,000 runs he recorded three centuries, two for Surrey - 107 and 115, against Kent and Sussex respectively - and one for Lord Sheffield's XI against New South Wales later in February 1892. As a slip and cover fieldsman he was brilliant. The catch he took to dismiss Bannerman in the 1888 Oval Test was described by Wisden as "approaching the miraculous." In Test matches, England were victorious in 15 of the eighteen in which Lohmann appeared between 1886 and 1896, with his 112 wickets at an average of 10.75 being a contributory factor in their success. He captured ten

wickets in a Test on three occasions against Australia, at the Oval in 1886 (12-104), and at Sydney in 1887 (10-87) and 1892 (10-142). In addition, during the three Test tour of South Africa in 1895-96 he collected 15-45 (including the fourth hat-trick in Test history to end the match) and 12-71 in the Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg encounters on his way to 35 wickets at 5.80 runs apiece in the series.

George Lohmann chose to remain in South Africa to repair his ailing health, but returned to England in 1901 as manager of the touring party.

The famous cricket historian Gordon Ross once wrote of Lohmann: "A veil of sadness hung over Surrey cricket in the year 1893. George Lohmann did not play a single game; he was stricken with illness, and although he did play again in subsequent seasons, the recovery from his illness was only partial; he died of consumption ten years later in South Africa.

"Without the potent spearhead of their attack, who for eight years carried all before him, Surrey were no longer the force they had been and they dropped not from first to second, but to fifth place. There was no replacement for Lohmann; genius cannot be replaced."
 

BACK TO: