Page:The Hambledon Men (1907).djvu/277

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'STAYED IN THREE WHOLE DAYS'
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Thomas Sueter, whose last recorded match was in 1791, is stated in John Nyren's book to have been a most famous wicket-keeper to Brett's tremendouspaced bowling; but in the contests in which his name appears, no one is found to have been got out in that way by him. But in his day, when a man was stumped out, it seems not to have been scored down as such. As a bat, he was one of the best, and, like all lefthanded hitters, could cut well to the off. Nyren does not state that he was a left-handed player; but as his name is found on that side in their match against the right in 1790, it is taken for granted that he was so. 'He is said to have been the first (or one of the first) who departed from the custom of the old players, who deemed it a heresy to leave the crease for the ball; but he would get in at it, hit it straight off and straight on, and, egad, it went as if it had been fired.' He was also an excellent judge of a short run. (It may here be remarked, that all wicket-keepers of note have also, almost without exception, been tip-top batsmen.) A Hampshire paper of 1859 stated, that when only 17 years of age he went to play a match at the Earl of Tankerville's, and stayed in three whole days; but the score is lost. For the last few seasons in which he played his name is found in the Surrey Eleven, and against Hambledon; why is now unknown. Perhaps for a short time he migrated into that county. His name is occasionally spelt Souter, and Suter, but both ways are incorrect. Over Hambledon church door is affixed the following: 'Thomas Sueter and Richard Flood, builders, 1788.' He had a fine tenor voice, was a handsome man, measuring about 5ft. lOin., of an amiable disposition, his word being never doubted. He was a native of Hambledon, and by trade a carpenter and builder. He belonged to the choir at his native village, and when he died there he left behind him a sovereign, in order that an anthem should be sung in the church over his corpse, which was done. His tombstone was standing (in 1858) in