Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

Chapter Eleven County Cricketer, 1949-1955 For the first peacetime winter since 1934/35 Joe did not take part in an overseas tour in 1948/49 but, in common with many English professionals, took an overseas coaching job. He went to New Zealand as coach to the Auckland Cricket Association and also appeared in three Plunket Shield matches, scoring 81 against Wellington at the Basin Reserve. No doubt refreshed by the antipodean winter, Joe returned to Trent Bridge for the 1949 season. In the previous November he had signed a new three-year contract and would now receive £500 per year. Notts had still failed to unearth any new bowlers and the Trent Bridge wicket seemed to become more and more perfect with the passing of each season. 64 The weather too was excellent. It was no surprise that the Notts batsmen flourished. By the end of the season Joe was top of the national averages – 2,251 runs at an average of 72.61 – with Simpson and Keeton in third and fifth positions. By contrast, Butler, the best bowler, was 64th in the bowling averages. Making the most of their batting resources Notts managed to win six matches, but drew 13. Only once did the Notts attack manage to take all twenty wickets in a match. The perfect wicket at Trent Bridge led to captains choosing to field first on the grounds that it was almost impossible to dismiss a side twice in three days. 65 It was felt that the only realistic way to gain a result was to allow the other side to declare and see what sort of target might be set. This led to a number of very exciting last-day run chases, which were several times successful for Notts until visiting captains became more cautious. Joe was in excellent form throughout and passed several batting milestones during the summer. The first was the scoring of a 107 64 The first three seasons of post-war cricket had seen 71 championship centuries at Trent Bridge whereas there had only been 12 occasions on which a bowler had taken ten or more wickets in a match 65 There had been fifteen definite results in championship matches since 1946. On no occasion had all 40 wickets fallen, but the winning side had captured 20 wickets in thirteen matches.