Lives in Cricket No 15 - Michael Falcon

communication whilst running between the wickets, Falcon and David Walker found themselves at the same end. The skipper, knowing full well who was the better batsman, sacrificed his wicket without a second thought. 1934 Speaking at the annual dinner of the Norwich Wanderers club, Michael Falcon spoke of an alteration to the lbw law which was being considered by the MCC Committee, and of which he was in favour, but he feared that the Minor Counties Championship might be used as a testing ground for experimentation, as had happened once before, in 1902. 51 He also urged for an improvement in the standard of local wickets. Following their triumphant season in 1933, Norfolk had another good campaign in the following year. Going into the final match against Cambridgeshire, they needed to win the match outright to secure a place in the Challenge Match. Cambridgeshire were made to follow-on but they batted through most of the second day and secured a draw. Michael Falcon had a poor year: after commencing with a 54, he scored few runs in the rest of the year and averaged less than 20. With the ball there was no longer any pretence at pace as his slows captured a mere four expensive wickets. Over his entire career this was one of the few years in which he least merited his place in the team as a player; his captaincy was still up to scratch though as the Eastern Daily Press reported: ‘Falcon managed the bowling with the alert and keen observing mind of the experienced captain’ and again ‘his long experience was a valuable asset in his admirable leadership.’ 1935 In March Geoffrey Colman died. Educated at Eton and Oxford (where he would have been captain of cricket in 1915 if the Great War had not intervened), he was severely wounded during the War Elder Statesman: 1930-1939 87 51 As is well known, an experiment was indeed made with the lbw Law in 1935, but it was conducted in the first-class game as well as in Minor Counties fixtures. Whereas previously the ball had to pitch in a straight line between the wickets in order to be a candidate for a successful lbw appeal, it was now allowed to pitch on the off-side of the wicket, providing it hit the batsman in a line between the wickets and (obviously) was going on to hit the stumps. Decisions made under the new ruling were to be ‘Noted with the sign ‘(N)’ in the scorebook.’ The experiment was considered to be a success and was formally incorporated into the Laws on 5 May 1937.