Rex Holt: The Perfect Ten!
By Jon O’Shea
It’s an unavoidable fact of life that on some days it seems that nothing will go your way, no matter how hard you try; you’ve got out of the bed on the wrong side, you glance at your feet and see that your socks don’t match, and then you go and top it all by pouring salt over your cornflakes – you feel like going back to bed and starting all over again 24 hours later. On other days though, destiny decrees that you just can’t put a foot wrong.
One of these singular occasions in the life of former Northowram Hedge Top bowler Rex Holt duly arrived on the 13 May 1979. As the Hedge Top team made the short trip to Stainland CC’s Memorial Ground on that spring afternoon, Rex could never possibly have imagined that the upcoming game would see him go on to achieve every bowler’s dream: the perfect ten.
“Four foot nine tall and nearly four foot wide!”, according to former Hedge Top wicketkeeper Graham Spencer, the inimitable Rex Holt was a regular in the club’s second XI for several years and earned himself a reputation as a brilliantly versatile medium-quick bowler (and a pin-sharp fieldsman at mid-off) throughout the Halifax League. He was capable of swinging the ball both ways, and really made the opposition batsmen strain the old grey matter in order to pick his line well enough to keep their innings ticking over. This constant pressure allowed Rex to force mistakes from the most experienced of batsmen, and subsequently he picked up ‘five-fors’ with supreme regularity at second-team level.
With this consistent level of achievement he made himself indispensable to the team. In fact, Graham Spencer’s dad Ian – who kept wicket on that memorable day at the Memorial Ground – firmly believes Rex to be the most accomplished second-team player he saw perform across the entire Halifax League during his long spell with Northowram Hedge Top.
Anyone present at that game in mid-May 1979 would have found it difficult to argue otherwise, given the overwhelming evidence put before them. By the time Stainland’s sorry innings came to a close at 47 all out, Rex had put together the near-flawless figures of 10 wickets for 15 runs from 16 overs (including 11 maidens). The scorecard below paints the full picture of an extraordinary bowling display which will long remain in Northowram Hedge Top’s record books:
As you can see, Stainland’s three Norcliffe brothers (including the remarkable Len Norcliffe, who still turns out occasionally for their second XI despite being well into his 70s) numbered among Rex’s victims that day without troubling the scorers too much. In fact, only celebrated Stainland batsman John Lewthwaite (24) offered much resistance to Rex’s bowling brilliance. Most notably though, Hedge Top accounted for the final seven wickets of their innings for the loss of just a solitary run!
There’s no doubt that the unmistakable figure of Rex Holt will not soon be forgotten by the Hedge Top faithful; not only due to his unique physical stature, but also due to his undeniable talent with ball in hand. Certainly, that one day in particular will long stand as a reminder to future generations that the man sure knew how to bowl.