Owzat for luck ... ball behind LBW hat-trick spins in

When Horace Fisher became the first bowler to register a hat-trick of LBW victims in August 1932, he went down in the Yorkshire hall of fame and earned himself a specially inscribed match ball.

In taking the three Somerset wickets at Sheffield, the left-arm slow bowler also gave rise to one of the greatest cricketing anecdotes.

After giving two batsmen out LBW, umpire Alex Skelding stared up the wicket at Somerset's Luckes when the third appeal was made. Finally, he announced: "As God's my judge, that's out, too" before raising his finger.

The story was recalled yesterday at Headingley as over 100 items of Fisher memorabilia, including the match ball, were loaned to the Yorkshire club after being discovered in a drawer and a wardrobe at the Wakefield home of his widow, Mabel, who died in April.

Fisher's niece Mavis Bray and her husband Keith phoned friend and cricket enthusiast Normal Hazell to take a look at what they had found.

Mr Hazell was astonished at the breadth of the treasure trove.

"My eyes lit up," he said yesterday. "I only intended to call in for two minutes but ended up staying for three hours when they found more stuff in a drawer."

As he carefully sifted through over 100 precious items, Mr Hazell came across the 1932 match ball and the memories came flooding back.

"It was a delightful thing to see the ball and the 1932 Yorkshire Post cutting with the headline about 'sensational bowling'.

"My father's cousin, Horace Hazell, was playing for Somerset that day and defied Fisher's bowling to get 12 not out, although Yorkshire won easily."

Mr Hazell, a former Mayor of Wakefield, also had the privilege of playing against Fisher when they both played in the Leeds league in the 1950s, Mr Hazell for Yorkshire Coppermakers and Fisher for Holbeck.

"I met him on the field. He was a lovely man, a really good sport. As a man, I had great respect for him. As a cricketer, he was way above my standard," Mr Hazell said. "This collection is wonderful and very well preserved. Today it has been handed over to Ray Illingworth as a long-term loan to the club."

Former Holbeck wicketkeeper Reg Parker, now 82, was also at Headingley to see the treasures handed over. He remembers Featherstone-born Fisher with affection. "He was one of the nicest chaps for a young cricketer. He gave a lot of time and advice to young lads. What he said was gospel."

It was also true that Fisher, a coalminer-turned-cricketer, was, like a true son of Yorkshire, very sensible with his money.

"Horace gave a chap called Billy Newton a lift back to Leeds in his car. He charged him his bus fare. He was careful, worked hard and looked after his pennies," said Mr Parker.

"He was a very confident type of chap who thought about cricket as well as playing it. He was a great one for encouraging young lads. He could entertain you with stories of what he had achieved. He could remember things and had a mind like a computer. He didn't blow his own trumpet but had a quiet manner and was great company."

Keith Bray, whose wife Mavis was one of Fisher's nieces, said the 1932 match ball took pride of place atop a piano but that 14 cups, five shields, four more balls, books, match mementoes and cuttings had turned up in a wardrobe. "We are very pleased they have found a good home and will be going into the club museum which opens in September," he said.

Mr Bray described Fisher as a "gentleman cricketer who had a smile and a greeting for everybody".

"He was quiet and reserved really. When I was courting his niece we would sit in the lounge. Mabel died on April 16 this year – and he died on April 16, 1974."

His other niece, Iris Dickinson, 59, said her uncle had met Mabel when she was a teenager and he was in his 20s but she would not marry him for more than 30 years because she was a carer, first to her parents, then to an aunt.

"She would not marry him but he waited for her all them years."

They did eventually marry in the 1960s and he died, aged 70, in 1974.

SLOW BOWLER WHO COUNTED HIS RUNS... AND HIS PENNIES

Horace Fisher, who played intermittently for Yorkshire between 1928 and 1936, was unlucky to be challenging Hedley Verity for a place in the pre-war side and mostly he played when Verity was on Test duty.

Fisher claimed 93 first-class wickets at a cost of 27.5 runs apiece and was a useful batsman and a very good fielder to boot.

An obituary in 1974 said of him: "He was a careful man. He counted his pennies as carefully as the runs hit off his bowling. He liked maiden overs and, using a low trajectory, bowling just short of a length, he was a most successful League professional.

"Had he encouraged batsmen to get on the front foot and given the ball more air he would undoubtedly have been in the mould of Rhodes and Verity... and the other great left-handers who, for 75 years prior to the Second World War, formed the hub on which Yorkshire cricket revolved."

Fisher was the first bowler to register a hat-trick of LBW victims when he took five wickets for 12 runs against Somerset at Sheffield in August 1932.