Lives in Cricket No 15 - Michael Falcon

Chapter Ten Michael Falcon’s Legacy As has been seen, Michael Falcon did not always put Norfolk cricket first. He missed the entire 1909 Minor Counties season and thereafter the odd game in favour of playing for the Harrow Wanderers, the Gentlemen and, most surprisingly, the Incogniti in 1913. However his loyalty quickly hardened and he did, in effect, sacrifice any higher ambition in favour of his native county after the Great War. His record in the Minor Counties Championship is truly remarkable. Uniquely, he captained his county before the First World War and after the Second World War; he was the leading run scorer at the time of his retirement, and would still be if his career had not been interrupted by both World Wars; and he was one of the leading wicket-takers of all time, again losing opportunities due to the Great War. In the Minor Counties Handbook of 2000, edited by Mike Berry, a ‘Team of the Century’ was put forward, and whilst this made no claim to be the final word on the matter of the greatest Minor Counties cricketers, it is more or less the sole word at the present time. Mike Berry, described selection to the team as ‘rewarding longevity of service and [picking] those who scored the most runs and took the most wickets over those who were arguably superior in technique but whose careers were fleeting by way of comparison.’ (Presumably this explains the absence of stalwart players such as George Thompson of Northamptonshire, who went on to play Test cricket, but the omission of Bill Edrich, who scored 8,034 runs and took 415 wickets for Norfolk in the Championship, is harder to justify.) Regardless of who may have been left out, Falcon justifiably found a place in the team as a true all-rounder, worth his place as a batsman and a fast bowler; unarguably his service was long and his technique was superior. Perhaps it was also intended that he would be skipper, too. The table below lists the players selected for the ‘Team of the Century’ and gives details of their careers in ‘competitive’ Minor Counties matches. 123