Famous Cricketers No 68 - Fred Tate

than a touch eccentric and when well set in the crucial second innings he played a reckless shot trying to hit Trumble out of the ground. Several others got out to strokes that, however they appeared in practice, do not read well. Lilley was caught sweeping from outside off-stump. And it was on Maclaren’s instructions that Bobby Abel, who was accustomed to getting his runs by steady accumulation, played some distinctly uncharacteristic strokes and got out doing so. It is difficult to be sure after all these years but even Rhodes does not seem to have made much effort to keep the strike. Both Ranjitsinhji and Lockwood, the latter an accomplished batsman as well as the best fast bowler of his day, actually scored fewer runs in the match than Tate. And England allowed five byes in the two innings - whether the fault of Lilley or the bowlers is unclear. Nor it seems was Tate the only one to miss a catch. Len Braund was among the best slip fielders of the day but he seems to have missed Duff in the first innings shortly after the batsman had reached his fifty. How difficult a catch it is hard to say. “It was not a chance but Braund tried to make it one” ( Manchester Guardian ), “Braund missed Duff at short slip” ( The Times ), “Braund’s sad mistake” (the cartoonist Frank Gillett in the Daily Graphic ). Most of the many who have written about the match blame the selectors - Lord Hawke (Chairman), Gregor MacGregor and Herbert Bainbridge with Jackson and Allan Steel co-opted. The true facts are impossible to unravel. It was undoubtedly an unbalanced fielding side and the omission of Jessop makes no more sense now with hindsight than it did then without it but there is a problem in that three of the main sources are Maclaren himself, Charles Fry and Neville Cardus. All three, whatever their merits, were never inclined to let inconvenient facts spoil a good story. Maclaren clearly had axes to grind and his version of events is at variance with several others including one of the principal actors in the drama, Len Braund. Cardus was thirteen years old at the time and his account seems to be based largely on what Maclaren told him later in life when they had become close friends. In his autobiography Life Worth Living Fry gives the impression that he took part in the selectorial deliberations but there is no supporting evidence. He was not a member of the committee and had been dropped from the side after scoring 0, 0, 1 and 4. Seemingly less concerned with balanced judgements than with denigrating Lord Hawke, he makes the extraordinary assertion that Tate’s strength was on fast, dry wickets and was no more than “useful” at county level on wet ones. This from a man who had played with Tate throughout much of his career with Sussex and had been on the field for most of the hundred wickets Tate had taken in the first two (predominantly wet) months of the 1902 season. Equally odd - given that Rhodes was in the side - is his suggestion that Hirst, whose primary weapons were his devastating in-swinger and variations thereon, was potentially England’s most dangerous bowler on a wet wicket. All sources seem to be agreed that Schofield Haigh, a specialist in the conditions, was the selectors’ choice but with three Yorkshiremen already in the squad, Jackson, Hirst and Rhodes, Chairman Lord Hawke disagreed feeling his beloved county would be unduly weakened for the forthcoming game with Worcestershire. This brought Tate into the thirteen, at whose suggestion is unclear. According to some accounts Maclaren felt Tate had been “foisted” on him. According to others, it was the captain who despatched the telegram summoning Tate to Manchester. There is no doubt that on the morning of the match Maclaren chose Tate in preference to Hirst. Most sources portray this as a decision taken in a fit of pique. It may be so but, as we shall see, Tate was very much the man in form and the choice could have been made for perfectly good cricketing reasons. As for Hirst’s greatly superior batting, with Braund at seven, Lilley at eight and Lockwood nine, the captain could hardly be blamed if he felt the batting was strong enough. As the teams left the field elements in the crowd, to their shame, booed Tate. Whether this was for getting out, dropping the catch or for being chosen instead of Hirst (or Barnes) one can only speculate. Perhaps he just played for the wrong county. Oddly enough, in the previous Test match the Bramall 4