Cricket Witness No 1 - Class Peace

84 Cricket and Class up to 1914 favoured a just catch, he had so acted. ‘Westhoughton Sunday School, Mr Cardus’, muttered Tyldesley, ‘Westhoughton Sunday School.’ This may well have been a sample of Mr – all the pros apparently called him Mr in every statement – Cardus’s’ artistic truth. It may well have been the writer’s version of what Richard Tyldesley tried to express or perhaps no more than an assumption on his part of what had passed through the catcher’s mind and conscience. What cannot be doubted is the truth of the meaning of the story and the stern ethical code inbred by the chapels of the industrial townships. By way of reinforcement from pre-1914 days, J.T.Tyldesley was a dedicated Independent Methodist. Lancashire were blessed with two branches of the Tyldesley clan, John Thomas being of the Worsley variant. Apart from his religious beliefs, he is of interest as being the one professional batsman of his generation to stand comparison with the majestic amateurs of his time. In the first two Tests of the 1902 series against Australia he was the only paid batsman in the top five, appearing in the order after Archie MacLaren, C.B.Fry K.S.Ranjitsinhji and Hon. F.S.Jackson. He was described as a ‘Player’ who batted like a ‘Gentleman’, a considerable compliment and a tribute to amid, a clutch of skills, his dextrous quick-footedness. This agility he ascribed to whirling around dance floors with those he reported as having been ‘buxom Lancashire lassies.’ Possibly it was the Independent Methodism that gave him the quiet composure for which he was also renowned. What might, with a massaging of the imagination, be called the chivalric amateurs and the evangelical professionals came together in unison at the Oval in 1912 in what proved to be the last home Test before the onset of World War I. The first ‘timeless’ Test, it drew to conclusion the rather lack- lustre triangular tournament of that summer with Australia and South Africa involved. England beat Australia by 244 runs. The England team was comprised of four gentlemen and seven players, almost a perfect replica of the national class demographic. The amateurs were C.B.Fry, R.H.Spooner, J.W.H.T.Douglas and F.R.Foster, a quartet of sportmen of splendid ability whomight have been hand-picked to personify the Corinthian spirit of cricket’s Golden Age. The professionals were Jack Hobbs, Wilfred Rhodes, Frank Woolley, Middlesex’s J.W. Hearne, E.J. ‘Tiger’ Smith, the Warwickshire wicket keeper, Harry Dean, the Lancashire quick bowler, and that most indefatigably independent of professionals, Sydney Barnes. Again they might have been chosen to represent both the rare talent and the serious application of the paid cricketing brethren. Several of the eleven remain household names among today’s cricket buffs; then, all of them would have been liberally heralded in the sporting pages of the press. Stretch the imagination further and and envision them preparing for the game, four in the stronghold of one dressing room, seven in the fortress of another. Possibly the amateurs discussed affairs of the day. On the first day of the match the Frenchman Adolphe Pegoud performed the first