Hartley Lobban

Hartley W Lobban (9 May 1922 - 15 October 2004) 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 (his maiden victim being Kenneth Suttle) and then held on for 4 not out with Peter Richardson (20*) 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 (five of his victims bowled) 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 (4-59) 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. On this latter occasion Lobban claimed eight wickets, his most in a single match, including a haul of 6-103 in the first innings. He also made his highest score with the bat, 18, in this match, but Sussex triumphed by five wickets.

In 1954 Lobban made only two first-class appearances, and managed only the single wicket of Gloucestershire tail-ender Bomber Wells. In his final game, against Warwickshire at Dudley, he was treated with disdain, his nine first-innings overs being hit for 51. He bowled just two overs in the second innings as Warwickshire completed an easy ten-wicket win. Lobban did play one more Second XI game, against Glamorgan II at Cardiff Arms Park; in this he picked up five wickets.