For many people, Frome’s contribution to the annals of great sporting moments probably begins and ends with a certain Mr Button and the 2009 Formula One Grand Prix Championship.
The town, however, can also lay claim as the site for the ‘birth’ of another sporting legend.
In May 1935, 20-year-old Harold Gimblett, from Bicknoller, in West Somerset, had a two-week trial with the county’s cricket club, but was told near the end, his services would not be required.
That might have been the end of the matter if Somerset Cricket Club had not found itself short of a player for an upcoming game against Essex, at the old Showfield, Rodden Road, in Frome.
Farmer’s son Gimblett – who died 40 years ago this year – was told that if he could get to Bridgwater by nine on the Saturday morning, another player would give him a lift to the match.
This journey across county from his home in Bicknoller to Frome, however, has become almost as mythical as what happened when he arrived here.
Missing the bus to Bridgwater, Gimblett eventually ‘hitched’ a lift with a lorry; whose driver, on told the reason for his trip, uttered something along the lines of ‘yeah, yeah, pull the other one.’
Duly arrived at Bridgwater, with the merest amount of time to spare, he nevertheless made the rendezvous with not only his lift, but also his destiny.
In Frome, Somerset won the toss and chose to bat first, but a disastrous start saw them lose three batsmen for just 35 runs and by the time Gimblett stood at the crease, the score was 107 for 6.
But then, as the Cricketing bible ‘Wisden’ would later write: ‘The start of [Gimblett’s] career was so sensational that any novelist attributing it to his hero would have discredited the book.’
With a borrowed bat and an audacious stroke play, Gimblett’s first run came off his third ball; his half-century with the thirty-third; and in just over an hour, he had reached his century.
This landmark – which included three sixes and 17 fours – would be the fastest century scored that season and by the time Gimblett was caught 23 runs later, had become an instant celebrity.
Somerset won the match with an innings to spare – thanks largely to Gimblett’s contribution –and it is perhaps no surprise that his future county career flourished.
Although his international career faltered – with a mere three Test appearances throughout his career – his biographer would call him ‘the greatest batsman Somerset has ever produced.’
And there are probably very few people – especially those who watched his sensational debut at Frome on the 18th of May 1935 – who would disagree.
Mick Davis & David Lassman
