Lives in Cricket No 15 - Michael Falcon

its lowest levels and the lengths to which he would go to foster its development. 1924 Norfolk had another mediocre season in the wet summer of 1924 but, as with the previous season, it wasn’t due to lack of success from their captain who again led from the front. He scored 580 runs in ten completed innings and added another 45 wickets to his Minor Counties career total. The highlight of his season was an all-round tour de force against Surrey II at Hunstanton: first he took seven for 37, with notable command of break and swerve, which led to the dismissal of Surrey for a mere 102. Then he racked up 148 with strokes all round the wicket, and finally finished with four for 41 as Surrey subsided by an innings. Staffordshire also suffered from the effects of Michael Falcon’s batting but they were unlucky in that, having forced Norfolk to follow on 156 behind, largely due to Sydney Barnes taking seven for 38, the great bowler (now 51) promptly pulled a muscle. Falcon took full advantage with a solidly compiled, unbeaten 129, thereby saving the match. Bowling, he took three more five-wicket hauls in addition to his success against Surrey II, but he was the cause of another injury as, against Staffordshire, one of his fastest balls rose steeply from the pitch, hit John Johnson on the jaw and laid him out. Successful though his Minor Counties season had been, it was in his three first-class games that Michael Falcon’s reputation was significantly augmented. His first appearance was for H.D.G.Leveson Gower’s XI against the touring South Africans at Reigate. He took but two expensive wickets, but it was his batting in the second innings which proved to be crucial. Coming in at nine with little to follow and 34 still needed to win, he nervelessly helped Emmott Robinson knock off the runs in 20 minutes, his share being an unbeaten 12. Only a couple of days later Falcon made, for him, the unusual choice to play for the Gentlemen at The Oval rather than for Norfolk. The Players’ opening batsmen, Jack Hobbs and Andy Sandham, added 129 runs before lunch, but after the break Falcon bowled at his finest, taking seven for 78 and being largely responsible for the dismissal of the Players for just 288. Philip Trevor in the Daily Telegraph reported: ‘His performance was all the better seeing that before he got anyone out there was every possibility that no bowler would do even moderately well.’ ‘Plum’ Warner, always a fan, added, ‘Falcon was in his best form. 70 At His Peak: 1919-1929