Jim Hilton (29 December 1930 – 26 November 2008) was a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. He was born in Werneth,

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

, and died at Oldham. His name was Jim, not James. The younger brother of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and Lancashire bowler Malcolm Hilton, Jim Hilton was a lower-order right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler. Unable to break into regular Lancashire first team cricket because of the competition for slow bowling places from his brother and

Roy Tattersall Roy Tattersall (17 August 1922 – 9 December 2011) was an English cricketer who played for Lancashire and played sixteen Tests for England as a specialist off spin bowler. He was born at Tonge Moor, Bolton, Lancashire, England. Tattersal ...

, Hilton moved south and played two full seasons for Somerset in 1954 and 1955. Even in a side as poor as Somerset's – the county finished bottom of the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

for four consecutive seasons from 1952 to 1955 – Hilton's bowling opportunities were limited by the presence of Johnny Lawrence and John McMahon, and he did not take more than 42 wickets in a season. In 1956, fellow off-spinner

Brian Langford Brian Anthony Langford (17 December 1935 – 12 February 2013) was an English first-class cricketer who played as an off-spin bowler for Somerset. He captained the county from 1969 until 1971 and his career tally of 1,390 wickets ranks him thir ...

returned from

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

and became first-choice, and though Hilton played fairly regularly again in 1957, he left the county's staff at the end of the season. He reappeared for Lancashire in Second Eleven matches for several further years, but did not play first-class cricket again.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilton, Jim 1930 births 2008 deaths English cricketers Lancashire cricketers Somerset cricketers Cricketers from Oldham 20th-century English sportsmen