Spirit On The Water (7 page)

It is always difficult to judge these things but S.F. Barnes has a strong claim to be the greatest bowler who ever lived. His long career was coming to an end when Sir Don Bradman started playing and so the cricket world was denied the intriguing confrontation of Barnes bowling to Bradman.

Sir Jack Hobbs, whose 197 first-class centuries and sheer brilliance makes him a strong contender to Bradman as the best batsman who ever lived, played at the same time as Barnes. Hobbs was not given to hyperbole and said simply that Sydney Barnes “was the greatest bowler ever”. C.L.R. James, not known for being loose with his praise, described him as “the greatest of all bowlers”.

The tour that set the seal on his greatness was the one to South Africa in 1913/14. It is not possible to fully appreciate his achievements on that tour without first looking at how he came to be opening the bowling for England in South Africa at the ripe old age of forty.

Barnes’s cricket career up to that point had been somewhat idiosyncratic. He was first picked for England in 1901 when he was selected to go to Australia after a season playing for Burnley in the Lancashire League. Not exactly the traditional route into the England team, even in those days. A century later, Jimmy Anderson followed in his footsteps. He had not played any first-class cricket when he was picked for England in a One-day International. He had, however, played for Burnley.

Sydney Barnes had two people to thank for being on the boat to Australia. One was Archie MacLaren, the Lancashire captain and the other was Lord Hawke, Yorkshire’s captain for twenty-eight years and president for forty years. An aspiring Tyke demigod, Lord Hawke insisted that all players who represented the county should be born in Yorkshire although he himself was born in Lincolnshire. An Eton and Cambridge education obviously provides you with a philosophical sophistication that enables you to accept apparent inconsistencies in life.

MacLaren was the England captain at the time and it was the captain’s job to select a team to go to Australia.
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He naturally wanted to take Wilfred Rhodes and George Hirst, two of the best bowlers in England. Unfortunately for him, they both played for Yorkshire and Lord Hawke vetoed their selection for England. He wanted them ‘fresh’ to play for Yorkshire the following season and evidently felt that a tour to Australia would tire them out. Yorkshire first, England second was his view. There are still a number of sympathisers to this approach in the county today.

Rhodes and Hirst had just helped bowl Yorkshire to the Championship title. There was intense rivalry between Lancashire and Yorkshire in general and MacLaren and Hawke in particular. Lord Hawke dominated Yorkshire cricket at the time, and he wasn’t about to help out his Lancastrian rival, even if it was in England’s cause. MacLaren needed to look elsewhere for a cutting edge to his bowling attack to take on the Australians.

News of the bowling exploits of Sydney Barnes in the Lancashire League had reached the ears of Archie MacLaren and he invited him to play for Lancashire in the last championship match of the season. Barnes bowled superbly, taking 6 for 70 in
the first innings. This was enough to convince MacLaren to take him to Australia.

Had it not been for the mutual antipathy between Lord Hawke and Archie MacLaren, who fought their own personal wars of the roses over many years, Barnes would never have gone to Australia in 1901 and may never have even played Test cricket. They were to have an influence on Barnes’s cricketing career for the rest of the decade.

When talking about S.F. Barnes, the word ‘uncompromising’ is never far away. In a time when people were supposed to know their place, he refused to bow to the expectations of others. Bowling was his profession and he was proud of it. He knew the value of what he did and if others did not have the same valuation then he would never concede any ground. He would simply take his skills elsewhere.

Born in Staffordshire, Barnes made his first-class début for Warwickshire in 1895 at the age of twenty-two. It was Warwickshire’s inaugural year as a first-class county and they were on the look out for new talent. Barnes didn’t make the grade and was deemed surplus to requirements. As decisions go, this must rank alongside Decca Records choosing not to sign the Beatles. (Decca said that “guitar groups are on the way out” and “the Beatles have no future in show business”. Instead they signed The Tremeloes who had auditioned on the same day.)

So what kind of bowler was S.F. Barnes? Was he fast or slow? Did he seam it or spin it? The truth is that he was all of these things, and more. He is not easy to categorise. A spin bowler who opened the bowling. A fast medium bowler who could be singularly quick. C.B. Fry, who captained him in Test matches said of him: “In the matter of pace he may be regarded as a fast or a fast medium bowler. He certainly bowled faster some
days than others; and on his fastest day was certainly distinctly fast”

Barnes was over six feet tall. Lean and gaunt, he was the perfect build for a bowler. When he first started playing cricket, he was an out and out fast bowler. He soon realised that speed alone was not sufficient. He reduced his pace, introduced a number of variations into his bowling and in effect became a ‘fast medium spinner’. He applied ‘swerve’ using fingers on the ball rather than wrist action. He also developed fast off breaks and leg breaks which gave him movement off the pitch and through the air. When allied with his accuracy and ability to generate pace off the pitch, he was at times unplayable. A famous Barnes story is of two tailenders continually playing and missing against him. “They’re not playing well enough to get out” he was heard to say.

Although Warwickshire didn’t want Sydney Barnes, Rishton in the Lancashire League certainly did and immediately offered him a contract. Barnes was paid twice as much playing one day a week for Rishton than all week, every week in a whole season of County Championship ‘grind’ for Warwickshire. One can imagine that this state of affairs would have very much appealed to him.

Barnes repaid Rishton by taking 411 wickets in five years at an average of just over 9 runs each. In 1900 he moved to Burnley, one of the richest clubs in the Lancashire League. Barnes took 111 wickets at an average of 9.22 in his first season. The following year, he claimed 114 wickets at 8.11. Little wonder that Archie MacLaren was interested in getting him to play for Lancashire and England.

League cricket in the north had been established in the latter part of the 19
^th
century. Whereas county cricket tended to be arranged to reflect the requirements of the ‘gentleman amateurs’, league cricket was organised around the needs of the working class. After labouring all week in the mills and factories, the
workers would support their local team at the weekend. Admission prices were low, travel to the grounds was easy and the standard of cricket was high.

It’s fair to say that Sydney Barnes was more at home in the relative meritocracy of league cricket. If you were good enough you would play, and be rewarded accordingly. County cricket, on the other hand, was run by, and on behalf of, the ‘gentlemen amateurs’. They were not natural bedfellows for S.F. Barnes.

Batsmen were his natural prey and he was a predator supreme. Neville Cardus noted that “a chill wind of antagonism blew from him on the sunniest day.” Cricket was not ‘fun’ it was his profession. Many years later, Barnes was playing in a charity match. Barnes was in his fifties and Learie Constantine was struggling with his batting. Cec Parkin, Barnes’ captain, asked him to chuck a few up so that the crowd could see Learie Constantine hit one or two. Barnes threw down the ball, collected his sweater and refused to bowl again in the match. “I have a reputation as well as Constantine” was his retort.

Lancashire had made attempts to persuade Barnes to play for the county on a number of occasions over the years. A.N. Hornby, the Lancashire captain before Archie MacLaren, wanted to have a look at him so gave Barnes a late entry into a League XI for a friendly game at Old Trafford. Barnes turned him down on the grounds that as he wasn’t originally selected he wouldn’t play just to make up the numbers.

On another occasion, Barnes agreed to turn out in a trial match but, when he discovered that he was in the second team, he declined to play. Apart from his natural cussedness, the crux of the issue was that Barnes could get paid more for doing less if he played league cricket. Unless the terms were exactly to his liking, he had no reason to submit himself to the rigours of county
cricket. When Hornby was told what Barnes was being paid for his performances in the Lancashire League, he supposedly replied that he could get three professionals for the same amount. One can only imagine what the response of Barnes would have been had he heard him say this!

Where Hornby had failed, MacLaren succeeded. Not only did he persuade the Lancashire committee to offer Barnes a contract, he also managed to get Barnes to accept it. On his return from Australia in 1902, Sydney Barnes was due to play his first full season in county cricket.

Archie MacLaren had a number of run-ins both with the Lancashire hierarchy and the Lords authorities. He was very much his own man, as he showed by taking Sydney Barnes to Australia. The southern-based media at the time had been shocked at the selection of Barnes and some openly questioned MacLaren’s sanity. MacLaren and Barnes had their differences but maintained a grudging respect for each other. It probably did not extend beyond the cricket field. On the trip to Australia, the ship carrying the England touring party ran into severe storms. Trying to comfort his less experienced colleagues, MacLaren said: “If we do go down, at least that bugger Barnes will go down with us!”

Barnes proved to be a great success in Australia. After doing well in the state games, he was selected for his first Test in Sydney on 13
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December 1901. England batted first and MacLaren scored a century. Barnes contributed to the total of 464 with 26 not out. When Australia batted, Barnes soon had his first Test victim. He caught and bowled Victor Trumper, Australia’s premier batsman and one of the best players of all time. Many people, including some Australians, regard him as having been a better batsman than Bradman. Perhaps that’s why Barnes got Trumper out so often? He was usually good enough to get a touch.

Barnes bowled virtually unchanged for the entire innings taking 5 for 65 off 35.1 overs and Australia were all out for 168. When they followed on they were bowled out for 172. Barnes, probably exhausted from his first innings effort, only got one of the wickets. Braund and Blythe got the rest. Against the odds and most people’s expectations, England had beaten a very strong Australian side and Barnes had established himself as a Test bowler.

The Second Test in Melbourne was another step along the way to making Sydney Barnes the world’s greatest bowler. Australia were bowled out in the first innings for 112 with Barnes taking 6 for 42. For England however, this was as good as it was going to get. They, in turn, were bundled out for 61 and although Barnes helped to reduce Australia to 48 for 5 in their second innings, they recovered to score a total of 353.

In Australia’s second innings, Barnes bowled 64 overs in the heat and humidity of Melbourne, taking 7 for 121. It was a monumental effort but all in vain. England were bowled out for 175 and they lost the match. Barnes’s exertions on the hard Australian pitches took their toll. He developed knee problems and, although MacLaren took a risk and picked him for the third Test, he was only able to bowl seven overs. Barnes didn’t play again on the tour and England lost the three remaining Test matches.

The Australian team came back on the same boat as the England players in order to take part in the return Ashes series. Barnes was recovering from his knee injury so was not considered for the first two Tests. It mattered little as England were able to put out what is considered to be one of their finest XIs ever. All the players who didn’t tour Australia were now available for selection.

This was the so called Golden Age of cricket and the names resonate even now. Archie MacLaren was captain again. C.B. Fry and Ranjitsinhji made themselves available. F.S. Jackson and
Gilbert Jessop certainly didn’t weaken the side. Nor did Tyldesley, Lockwood and Braund. Dick Lilley was the keeper and Lord Hawke very graciously allowed Rhodes and Hirst to appear. S.F. Barnes, the greatest bowler in the world, may have struggled to get in the team!

The Australians also had a strong side and were fresh from a 4 – 1 series win at home. They also had a secret weapon. Lord Hawke was now Chairman of the England selectors and Archie MacLaren was still England’s captain.

Things started well for England. They had much the better of the First Test match at Edgbaston. Only the weather saved Australia from defeat. Heavy rain meant that only two hours play was possible in the Second Test at Lords. The teams then moved on to Sheffield for the first and only Test match to be held at Bramhall Lane.

Lockwood was not available and Barnes seemed the logical choice to replace him. He had recovered from his knee problems and was bowling well for Lancashire. The England selectors, aka Lord Hawke, had other ideas. They chose Schofield Haigh, a spinner from Yorkshire.

On the morning of the match, MacLaren looked at the conditions and immediately cabled Barnes to get over to Sheffield as soon as possible. He arrived five minutes after play had started and replaced Haigh on the field. This came as a complete surprise to Lord Hawke and the other selectors. A Lancashire player replacing a Yorkshire player, even if it was Sydney Barnes, didn’t go down too well either with the thousands of Yorkshiremen gathered to watch the first ever Test match in Sheffield.

As soon as Barnes was allowed to bowl, MacLaren brought him on. Heckled by the Yorkshire crowd, Barnes responded by
taking four quick wickets and Australia were in trouble at 73 for 5. They recovered somewhat but Barnes came back to get two more wickets and finish with 6 for 49. This was his home début and the figures will remain forevermore as the best Test bowling figures at Bramhall Lane.