Hartley Lobban

Who is Hartley Lobban?

Hartley W Lobban is a Jamaican-born former English cricketer who played 17 first-class matches for Worcestershire in the early 1950s.

Lobban's debut came against Sussex in July 1952. He took six wickets in the match and then held on for 4 not out with Peter Richardson to add the 12 runs needed for a nail-biting one-wicket victory after his county had collapsed from 192/2 to 238/9. A week later he claimed four wickets against Warwickshire, then a few days later still he managed 6–52 in what was otherwise a disastrous innings defeat to Derbyshire.

After two rather unsuccessful outings against Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, Lobban returned to form in the last match of the season, taking a career-best 6-51 against Glamorgan; he and Reg Perks bowled unchanged throughout the first innings. He took no wickets in the second innings, but this time Worcestershire did win the game and Lobban finished the season with 23 wickets at 23.69.

He took 23 wickets again in 1953, but at a considerably worse average of 34.43, and had only two really successful games: against Oxford University in June, when he took 5-70, and then against Sussex in July.