By Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (April 9^th 2025)

Somerset’s Top-Scorer – 1948-1985

Lionel (LCH) Palairet was undoubtedly a legend of Somerset’s cricket even if it didn’t happen for him at international level. Palairet scored 292 against Hampshire in 1896 – his record lasted 52 years. Two world wars came and went before another opening batsman who broke Lionel Palairet’s record.

Harold Gimblett, was the first Somerset batsman to score a triple century for the county, but apart from his contributions it was a pretty ordinary season for Somerset – they finished twelfth out of 17 teams in the County Championship.

Gimblett’s Summer

Gimblett easily topped the run charts for the season for Somerset with 1741 runs, although once his Test Match scores were taken into account, Middlesex and England’s Dennis Compton led by some distance.

Nevertheless, Gimblett’s feats were impressive in a poor team. He was the only Somerset batsman to hit a century that season. Herbert (aka Bertie) Buse scored an unbeaten 98 out of 232 all out in the second innings in a 10-wicket thrashing by Kent in Maidstone in July.  Maurice Tremlett was unbeaten on 96 out of 190 in the first innings against Gloucestershire at Bristol in August. Gloucestershire drew with Somerset runs in the match that Tremlett ran out of partners with a hundred beckoning. Buse and Tremelett were the closest to joining Gimblett as century-makers for Somerset in their 26 matches.

Gimblett hit four centuries that season. Somerset beat Nottinghamshire by an innings and 25 runs at the end of June at the Recreation Grounds in Bath. Somerset scored 338 for 8 declared in response to Nottinghamshire’s 115 all out – Gimblett made 105. That was the first of his centuries in the 1948 season. The second and third were in July. Gimblett scored 107 out of 221for 7 declared in the second innings against Northamptonshire in a drawn match and later that month he hit 119 out of 307 in the first innings against Leicestershire at Frome. Somerset won the match by 166 runs.

Undoubtedly the highlight of Somerset and Gimblett’s season was the last of his four centuries. He scored a record-breaking 310 against Sussex – it was the first triple century scored by any batsman for Somerset – at Safron’s Ground in Eastbourne in August.

James Langridge top-scored for Sussex with 100 – his elder brother John made 76 at the top of the order in a first innings score of 434 all out. Somerset responded with 584 for 8 declared. Michael Walford made 71 and Miles Coope scored 89, but their efforts were dwarfed by Gimblett’s 310. Sussex made 79 for 2 in their second innings, drawing the match.

But there was far more to Gimblett than just that innings – superb though it was.

A Lost Opportunity

He an entertaining opening batsman announced his arrival on the county scene with a century on début, 123 against Essex in 1935.

Gimblett scored just over 23000 runs in his first-class career, averaging just over 36 – a decent but not spectacular total. He hit 50 first class hundreds and took nearly 250 catches in a career that lasted from 1935-1953, although six years were lost to World War II and England had other far more serious priorities than cricket in the aftermath of victory over Naziism.

He should, perhaps have had more opportunities to play for England, but Somerset was considered to be an unfancied county in 1948 and England had other options such as Sir Leonard Hutton and Dennis Compton. This was Compton’s summer and Australia brought a great team over – it featured Sir Donald Bradman’s farewell.

Sadly, Gimblett suffered from mental illness and committed suicide in 1978, aged 63. He did not live to see his record broken. That happened in 1985 at the hands of one of the greats of cricket, not just Somerset, the West Indies’ Sir Vivian Richards.