Wally Hardinge

Harold Thomas William Hardinge (25 February 1886 – 8 May 1965), known as Wally Hardinge, was an English professional sportsman who played both cricket and association football for England. His professional cricket career lasted from 1902 to 1933 during which he played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and made one Test match appearance for England. He was described as being "for years ... one of the leading opening batsmen in England".

He played football at the top domestic level between 1905 and 1921 for Newcastle United, Sheffield United and Arsenal and also made a single international appearance for England in that sport. He briefly managed Tottenham Hotspur after he retired as a sportsman.

Early life Hardinge was born in 1886 at Greenwich in Kent. He was the son of William and Ellen Hardinge, his father being a seaman.

Cricket career In a first-class cricket career lasting 32 years from the age of 16, Hardinge scored 33,519 runs and made 75 centuries. He was coached by Captain William McCanlis at Kent's Tonbridge Nursery from the age of 13 and made his debut for the County in August 1902 against Lancashire at Tonbridge at the age of 16. He was the youngest player to make their first-class debut for Kent until 2006 and is still the second youngest debutant for the county. He became a regular in the team in 1907 when he was capped by the county. He played in the four Kent County Championship winning teams of the period between 1906 and 1913 and was named as one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year in 1915.

Hardinge was considered a "reliable opening batsman" He scored centuries in four consecutive innings in 1913 and four times scored centuries in both innings of a match. He was refused leave of absence to tour Australia in 1928–29 by his employer and had been unable to tour with England whilst he was playing professional football. He is Kent's second leading run scorer after his contemporary Frank Woolley and second, also to Woolley, in the county's all time appearances list with 606, including a run of 101 consecutive County Championship appearances between 1924 and 1928. His 1928 run aggregate is the third highest in Kent's history and his highest score of 263 not out remains the ninth highest in the county's first-class history. He made first-class appearances for a number of other teams, including the Royal Air Force, and made his final first-class appearance for Kent in 1933 aged 47. After two and a half years there, mainly as a reserve, he moved to Sheffield United in 1907 for a fee of £350.

Military service Hardinge served as a Special Constable and in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as a mechanic in World War I. He joined the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division in 1915 before transferring to the Royal Naval Air Service as an air mechanic at Crystal Palace and Blandford, being promoted to Chief Petty Officer in 1915. He had a spell as a coach of Tottenham Hotspur's reserve team in the 1930s and for a short period became caretaker manager of the first team in 1935 after the departure of Percy Smith.