Denys Hill

Who was Denys Hill?

Denys Vyvian Hill, nicknamed Hooky Hill, was an English cricketer who played 42 first-class matches in the 1920s. Most of these were in county cricket for Worcestershire, but he also appeared at first-class level for the Gentlemen, Army, Free Foresters, North of England and MCC.

He made his debut for the Army at Fenner's, in a drawn match against Cambridge University, at the end of May 1922; he claimed the solitary wicket of Cambridge wicket-keeper Dar Lyon. Two further Army appearances that summer produced one more wicket in each of his four bowling innings, while a single match for Free Foresters in 1923 brought him 2-65; he did not score more than 5 in any of his six visits to the crease during those two seasons.

Hill was then out of the first-class game for several years, returning in 1926 for one unproductive match for the Army against Oxford University. The main part of his cricketing career commenced the next year, when he began to play for Worcestershire. His County Championship debut, versus Kent in early May 1927, brought him a first-innings haul of 4-139, though Worcestershire lost the game by an innings.