Clement Hill (18 March 18775 September 1945) In total he was dismissed between 90 and 99 five times in Test cricket. In 1903–04, Hill was at the centre of a riot at the Sydney Cricket Ground after he was adjudged run out in a Test match against England. With Roger Hartigan he still holds the Australian Test record partnership for the eighth wicket—243, made against England at the Adelaide Oval in 1907–08.
Hill had a strained relationship with Australian cricket authorities. He turned down an invitation to tour England in 1909 due to his unhappiness with the contract terms offered. Despite this, he was appointed Test captain in 1910–11 for the series against South Africa. His Test cricket career ended in controversy after he was involved in a brawl with cricket administrator and fellow Test selector Peter McAlister in 1912. He was one of the "Big Six", a group of leading Australian cricketers who boycotted the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England when the players were stripped of the right to appoint the tour manager. The boycott effectively ended his Test career. After retiring from cricket, Hill worked in the horse racing industry as a stipendiary steward and later as a handicapper for races including the Caulfield Cup. Hill died in 1945 aged 68 when thrown from a tram in Melbourne in a traffic accident.
Early life
Hill was born on 18 March 1877 in Adelaide, South Australia, to Henry John Hill (known as John) and his wife Rebecca, née Saunders, and grandson of Henry Hill MHA. Clem was one of eight sons and eight daughters in a family that was heavily involved in cricket. His father scored a century (102 not out) for North Adelaide against the touring Kent County Cricket Club, reportedly the first century scored at the Adelaide Oval. Six other brothers played for South Australia and in 1912–13 there were several instances of three Hill brothers in the same representative team. "Inter-collegiate" matches, the annual fixtures against rivals St Peter's College, were fiercely contested. Hill played his first inter-collegiate match at the age of 13, keeping wicket and batting at number ten. At 16, he scored 360 in the inter-collegiate match, a schoolboy record, bettering the mark made earlier by Joe Darling. In the 1894–95 season, at 17 years of age, he played the touring English team led by A.E. Stoddart, scoring 20 in his only innings in the match.
Later the same season, Hill became a regular member of the South Australian team, making his Sheffield Shield debut against Victoria. Batting at number nine, he scored only 21 but the manner in which he made them saw the Australian Test wicket-keeper Jack Blackham declare the discovery of another great batsman. The English team returned to the Adelaide Oval and this time Hill scored his maiden first-class century, 150 not out, against quality bowlers including Tom Richardson and Bobby Peel. So good was the quality of Hill's batting that when he reached his century a cab driver spectator, sitting on his cab, "cheered end clapped so much [he] fell through the roof of the vehicle".
In his first season of regular first-class cricket, Hill scored 335 runs in nine innings at an average of 47.85.
Hill was also a talented Australian rules footballer and played for the South Adelaide Football Club during the 1890s and early 1900s.
Test cricket
Selection and early career
Hill topped the averages for South Australia in the 1895–96 season, scoring 371 runs in seven innings. According to Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, Hill "was a brilliant success" and his batting on good wickets during the tour was "first rate". Hill made his Test début in the First Test at Lord's. Australia collapsed in the first innings to be all out for 53 with Hill bowled by George Lohmann for one. England made 292 runs in reply but the second innings saw an Australian fightback. The captain, Harry Trott (143), was partnered by Syd Gregory (103) to help Australia to a score of 347, setting England 109 runs to win. Hill failed again scoring only five, bowled this time by Jack Hearne. Rain made England's task a little more difficult but they were able to make the runs for the loss of only four wickets. Hill played in the remaining two Tests, but managed to score only 30 runs in the series. Australia lost the series and the Ashes by two Tests to one. The First Test was played in Sydney and a minor controversy ensued when officials abandoned the first day's play due to earlier heavy rain without consulting the two captains. The delay did not seem to affect the English who batted first and scored 551, including centuries by Ranjitsinhji and Archie MacLaren. The Australians were forced to follow-on after making 237. Batting again, Hill scored 96 but England managed to win the match by nine wickets. The Second Test was played in Melbourne and Australia fought back, winning by an innings and 55 runs with Hill scoring 58. Another innings victory in the Third Test in Adelaide saw Australia leading the series two Tests to one. on a pitch that assisted the bowlers. At the tea interval, Hill, feeling refreshed, mentioned to Trumble that he thought he would "have a go at them now". The experienced Trumble cautioned Hill, replying "You young devil, you have to stop there. Go along as you have been doing." That summer, Hill scored 1,196 runs in 19 innings including five centuries, the first Australian to score 1,000 runs in a home season. Before this, Hill was recognised by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack as the best of the Australian batsmen that English summer. and was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. His best performance of the series was in the Second Test at Lord's. Hill scored 135, sharing a partnership of 82 with Victor Trumper, who was playing only his second Test match. Trumper went on to score 135 not out. Hill, who was dropped by Ranjitsinhji fielding at slip when he had made 119, batted for 4 hours and hit 17 boundaries. Australia won the Test, the only one to have a definite result, by 10 wickets and retained the Ashes.
thumb|Hill standing in front of the Adelaide Oval scoreboard after scoring 365 against New South Wales in 1900–01
In 1900–01, Hill made a then record Sheffield Shield score for South Australia against New South Wales at the Adelaide Oval. He batted for 8 hours and 35 minutes for 365, including 35 boundaries. The record stood for 27 years until beaten by Bill Ponsford. England returned to contest the Ashes in 1901–02, under the captaincy of Archie MacLaren. The English team was weakened by the unavailability of players such as Ranjitsinhji, Hirst, C.B. Fry and Wilfred Rhodes. The surprise selection was Sydney Barnes, who had played most of his cricket in the Lancashire League. Repeating the result of the series three years earlier, Australia lost the First Test but won the next four comfortably to retain the Ashes. Hill was the leading run scorer in the series, with 521 runs including 99, 98 and 97 in successive innings. He is still the only person to achieve this most unusual feat.
Hill was the victim of bad luck during this sequence of scores between 90 and 99. At Melbourne during the New Years Test he scored 99; the first time a batsman was dismissed one run short of a century in Test cricket. In the first innings in the next Test in Adelaide, having scored 98, Hill was caught by Johnny Tyldesley who was standing on the bicycle track surrounding the oval. Tyldesley attempted to call Hill back but Hill declined, saying the captains had agreed that the fence was the boundary, not the track. Under modern laws, he would have been not out and the shot would count as six runs, allowing him his century. In the second innings, Hill's poor luck continued. He chopped down on a ball when 97 and then, to his horror, saw the ball rolling back towards his stumps. He attempted to hit the ball away from the stumps but accidentally knocked the leg bail and was out, bowled. For the second time, Hill scored more than 1,000 runs in an English summer; 1,534 at an average of 31.95 including four centuries. Australia batted first and could only score 194, Barnes taking 6 wickets for 49 runs. In return Monty Noble and Jack Saunders bowled England out for 145 and Australia led by 49 runs on the first innings. When Reggie Duff was dismissed in the second innings, Hill joined Trumper at the wicket. The pair scored 60 runs in half an hour before Trumper was out, caught by the wicket-keeper. He was followed quickly by the captain, Darling, out for a duck. Syd Gregory was the next batsman and with Hill added 107 runs in only 67 minutes. In semi-darkness and facing fast and accurate bowling on a poor pitch, Hill pushed on to reach his century after 115 minutes of batting. He had given two difficult chances, one at slip when 74 and in the outfield at 77 before he was caught by MacLaren from the bowling of Jackson for 119. England won the Fifth and final Test at The Oval by one wicket. Chasing 263, England were 5/48 when Gilbert Jessop began an extraordinary display of hitting, scoring a century in only 75 minutes to help England to victory. Of Hill's form during the tour, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack said "Clement Hill played many fine innings, his best performance being in the Test match at Sheffield, but, even allowing for the soft wickets, I do not think he was so great a batsman as in 1899." In the First Test he made 145 when Australia was in trouble after following-on, an innings described in Wisden as "marred by very few mistakes". In the Third Test, Hill batted through much of the Australian first innings to make 91 not out. Australia won the Test by ten wickets and the series two Tests to nil.
Establishment
thumb|Hill attempts to stop a pitch invading dog in the Fourth Test in Melbourne in 1908.
For the first time under the auspices of the Marylebone Cricket Club, an English team travelled to Australia for the 1903–04 season to contest the Ashes. Contrary to expectations before the tour, the English won the series and the Ashes three Tests to two. Hill trailed Trumper and Noble in the series averages, making 276 runs at 27.60 without ever getting to 100 in an innings. In the First Test, Hill was at the centre of what Wisden described as a "very regrettable and indeed disgraceful [crowd] demonstration". Batting with Trumper, Hill had run well past the stumps at the bowler's end for a fourth run. The English return gave the Australian pair an opportunity for an overthrow. Hill had to run the entire length of the pitch. Albert Relf at mid-on gathered and threw to the wicket-keeper, Dick Lilley who removed the bails and appealed for the run out. Umpire Bob Crockett gave Hill out. Hill could not believe the decision as the ball had passed behind him when he slid his bat to make his ground.
Hill toured England for the last time with the 1905 Australian team. The Test series was dominated by what was seen as uninspired cricket with England retaining the Ashes two Tests to nil. The Australian batting suffered from a lack of steadiness and Hill was one of the Australians criticised by Wisden that season; "[Hill] would certainly have met with more consistent success if he had retained his old self-control. He was somewhat indiscriminate in hitting at the off-ball, and many a time his impatience cost him his wicket." However Wisden praised his fielding, saying "Trumper, Hill, and Hopkins did any amount of fine work in the deep field". Hill, batting with team-mate Roger Hartigan playing his first Test match, set a record in the Third Test in Adelaide. Suffering from influenza and unable to field in the English first innings, Hill joined Hartigan at the fall of the seventh wicket. During his innings, Hill vomited beside the pitch and had to quickly leave the field several times. The pair managed to bat on and take the match into a fourth day. Hartigan, whose leave from work had expired, was relieved to receive a telegram from his employer: "Stay as long as you are making runs." With Sammy Carter, Hill continued before finally dismissed by Jack Crawford for 160, after 5 hours and 19 minutes of batting. At the end of his innings Hill was close to collapse but his efforts assisted his team defeat the English by 245 runs. McAlister was also a member of the selection panel and was able to secure a majority for his selection. Hill accused his fellow selectors of conspiracy and said he had "decided to wash his hands of the affair" and that "he did not consider that the best men had been chosen". Hill declined to accept the terms offered. Since his marriage in 1905, Hill had spent considerable time away from his wife with his commitments during two Test series against England and this may have also influenced his decision not to tour. Hill, after consulting with other players, settled on a strategy of hitting the bowlers off their length with aggressive batting. Hill showed the way in the First Test at Sydney, scoring his first 100 runs in 98 minutes. Australia won the Second Test in Melbourne after bowling the South Africans out for 80 in their second innings, but the South Africans fought back to win the Third Test in Adelaide by 38 runs.
Australia won the Fourth Test by 508 runs after being sent in to bat by South Africa, who hoped to trap them on a rain-affected wicket. The Australians managed to end the first day's play at 8/317 to avoid the trap and win the Test. In the second innings, Hill hit another century (100) in only 100 minutes, with Wisden noting that he "play[ed] especially well". Australia won the final Test and the series four Tests to one. The England bowlers were clearly superior to the Australian batsmen; Trumper was the only Australian to score a century during the Tests. While this series took place, the Board of Control made plans to usurp the commonly accepted right of the players to appoint the team manager when touring England. In response, a group of senior players, including Hill, threatened to withdraw from the next tour, to take place in 1912, unless their choice, Frank Laver, was appointed.
Matters came to a head when Hill sent a telegram to fellow selector, Peter McAlister, urging the inclusion of the New South Wales all-rounder Charlie Macartney in the team for the Fourth Test in Melbourne.—to Hill's request was "... Still opposed to Macartney's inclusion. If Iredale (another selector) agrees with you as to Macartney's inclusion, I favour yourself standing down not Minnett." An in camera investigation into the fracas took place; the Board's only comment on the meeting was to report that it had been "satisfactorily settled". Hill was then offered an invitation to take part in the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England.]]
At the age of 43, Hill returned to first-class cricket for one match to assist in its re-establishment in Australia after the Great War. His last match was for an Australian XI against New South Wales played to support Bill Howell's benefit. When he retired he had scored more runs in Test cricket than any other player; a record he held for 12 years until surpassed by Jack Hobbs. In 1902 Hill was the first to score 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year; the next to do so was Denis Compton 45 years later in 1947. Hill was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2005.
Outside cricket
Hill served an engineering apprenticeship at the government workshops in Islington. He had an awkward crouched stance, gripping the bat low on the handle. This included a sequence in the 1901–02 series against England of 99, 98 and 97 in successive innings.