was noted for his on-side drive, which was his favourite stroke. His highest career score was the 166 which he scored for Yorkshire against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in 1896 when Yorkshire totalled a record 887 and he shared with Peel a record eighth wicket partnership of 292. Hawke took part in another record partnership in 1898 when he and David Hunter put on 148 for the tenth wicket against Kent. He played in 633 first-class matches and had 936 innings, including 105 in which he was not out, scoring 16,749 runs at an average of 20.15. He completed 13 centuries and 69 half-centuries. As a fielder, Hawke generally took up position in the midfield or deep areas. Wisden editor Hubert Preston recalled Hawke's "speed and sure picking up" when fielding. Hawke held 209 catches in his first-class career. He was never a bowler and, in his entire first-class career, bowled just 5 four-ball overs, conceding 0–16 at nearly a run a ball. Writing during Hawke's career, K. S. Ranjitsinhji in his Jubilee Book of Cricket (1897) describes Hawke as "a capital leader of men". The measure of his success as a captain was that Yorkshire under his leadership won the County Championship title 8 times. Hawke was an archetypal amateur gentleman playing at a time when professionals were generally viewed as second-class citizens but Hawke, who had great admiration for the professional cricketers in his charge was determined to improve their status and give them respectability. He insisted on discipline and neatness from his professionals and, in return, he gave them a financial stability they had formerly lacked. He instituted winter pay after the 1896 season, initially £2 per week, and established a merit system which resulted in payment of bonuses. In the longer term, he persuaded the club committee to retain and invest for the player two-thirds of his benefit money instead of handing him the whole amount to spend freely. Above all, wrote Swanton, he "deserves to be remembered for what he did for the pros". Hawke's financial policies were a great success at Yorkshire and his legacy was a general improvement in the finances and status of professional players everywhere as other counties followed his lead. W. G. Grace in his Reminiscences (1899) commented that Hawke "succeeded in introducing an esprit de corps and a standard of discipline, from the absence of which the county had been