Lives in Cricket No 15 - Michael Falcon

Falcon’s breakthrough with the ball occurred against the Indian tourists. When they followed on Falcon returned figures of five for 50, helping to dismiss them for 180 and inflicting upon them an innings defeat. It was his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, but there would be 19 more in his brief first-class career. He was also successful in his next match, an innings defeat at the hands of Surrey. In the Cambridge second innings, only Falcon, with an unbeaten 70, and skipper Ireland, with 59, reached double figures. Falcon’s good form continued against Sussex; when the county were set only 91 to win, he bowled finely and was largely responsible for their collapse to 61 for nine. However, Bertie Chaplin and Henry Roberts managed to knock off the runs for victory and Falcon had to be content with figures of five for 40. Further success followed against MCC, who were defeated by an innings. He scored 65 and took three for 32 and five for 25, his bowling being difficult to play on a rain-affected pitch. Falcon’s figures against Oxford didn’t really do him justice, but the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian both praised his bowling whilst the often-hostile Times employed the word ‘brilliance’ of his performance. Cambridge lost again but Falcon had done enough to earn an invitation to play for the Gentlemen at Scarborough at the season’s end. 10 Given the new ball he rapidly fired out Wilfred Rhodes and Johnny Tyldesley and later came back to dismiss Phil Mead, albeit after Mead had compiled a double century, finishing with figures of three for 87. The Gentlemen collapsed before the bowling of Frank Field, who took the first six wickets to fall: at this point, with the score on 64, Falcon joined Bernard Bosanquet. They put on 147 for the seventh wicket in 70 minutes, Falcon making 75 (which was to remain his highest score for the Gentlemen) and Bosanquet scoring 103. It was one of the better pieces of amateur batsmanship at the festival in the immediate pre-War years and probably Falcon’s most impressive innings in first-class cricket. Having won the Minor Counties Championship in 1910, Norfolk had high hopes for the 1911 season and employed ex-Test player Fred Tate as coach in the pre-season nets at Lakenham. Unfortunately things did not go according to plan and only the last two games were won. The problem was that in a fine, dry summer, the attack was unpenetrative, with Raikes, who finished top of the bowling averages, taking his wickets at the high cost, by Minor Taking Over the Reins at Norfolk: 1911-1914 27 10 His contemporaries among faster amateur bowlers included Walter Brearley, William Burns, Johnny Douglas and Frank Foster.