John Hobbs

Sir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs (16 December 1882 – 21 December 1963) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Master", he is regarded by critics as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century-maker in first-class cricket, with 61,760 runs and 199 centuries.#tag:ref|Some sources, such as Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, credit Hobbs with 61,237 runs and 197 centuries. Hobbs was raised in a poor, run-down area of the city, and he spent most of his childhood in near-poverty. and in 1889 was appointed groundsman and umpire at Jesus College.

From an early age, Hobbs played cricket whenever he could. His first games were played in the streets near his house. He was educated at a primary school affiliated with his local Anglican church, St Matthew's, and moved in 1891 to York Street Boys' School, a fee-paying establishment; Hobbs later admitted to being a poor scholar but was successful at sports. and during holidays helped his father at Jesus College. In his final year at York Street, to supplement the family budget, Hobbs took a job working before school hours in the domestic service of a private house. On leaving school in 1895, he worked as an errand boy until his father's connections at the university secured him a summer job as a college servant, chiefly assisting the cricket team. He played for various local clubs but did not initially stand out as a cricketer: although better than most other Cambridge batsmen, no coaches or major teams approached him, and his batting gave little indication of the success which came later.

Hobbs' breakthrough came in 1901.|group=notes his first century. At the end of the season, he was included in a Cambridge XI, a team chosen from the best local cricketers, to play a prestigious match against a team of professional cricketers brought by the Cambridge-born Surrey cricketer Tom Hayward. Hobbs' overall record was unremarkable, but at the end of the season he was invited to play as an amateur for Cambridgeshire; but he achieved little in his appearances.

Source @ Wikipedia