Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

In 1952 Joe’s son Joe had a trial at Trent Bridge and was offered a contract. Joe would have none of it and forbade him to take up the offer so son Joe – who in any case was liable for National Service – volunteered for the Royal Air Force, trained as a pilot and eventually reached the rank of Air Commodore. During his career, son Joe played cricket for the RAF from 1953 to 1973 and captained the team for several years. After retiring from the Royal Air Force, he was Middlesex secretary from 1990 to 1997 and is currently president of the Wiltshire county club. 70 Although he was discouraging to his son, Joe found time to encourage other aspirants to county cricket. In The Flame Still Burns , Stephen Chalke reported the friendly welcome which Tom Cartwright, as a seventeen-year-old, received when he first encountered Joe in a Championship match at Trent Bridge in August 1952. The following season saw a dramatic change in Notts’ fortunes. In 1951 the committee decided to break with tradition and recruit from outside the county. In 1951 Ken Smales, an off-spinner, had arrived from Yorkshire, and the Australian leg-break bowler, Bruce Dooland, had agreed to qualify by residence. Completing his qualification period in 1953, Dooland made an immediate impact by capturing 160 wickets and helping Notts reach eighth position in the Championship, their best result since 1936. Sadly for Joe, 1953 turned out to be his poorest season for twenty years. Hampered by a troublesome knee, he struggled throughout the season, scored only 887 runs and failed to make a century. It may have been in this season that Trevor Bailey noticed that, when Joe was out of form, his hands slipped down the bat handle. Bailey, of course, thought sound defensive batting very important. 71 Joe’s best match was a win over Yorkshire at Trent Bridge in July, when he scored 83 in the first innings and, when Notts were set 110 to win in 65 minutes, led off with a brisk 27, during which he passed 30,000 first-class runs. 72 In the winter of 1952/53 Joe visited South Africa for the first time. He was engaged to coach at Kimberley Boys’ High School, taking over from his team mate Freddie Stocks who had been there in 1951/52 and before that Emrys Davies of Glamorgan. Joe’s title 112 County Cricketer, 1949-1955 70 In playing for the Free Foresters against Cambridge University in 1961 and 1962 he became the third Joe Hardstaff to play first-class cricket. 71 Joe seems not to have been ‘out of form’ any more often than his contemporaries. Indeed, his entries in the News Chronicle Cricket Annual regularly referred to his consistency. 72 This put his name in Wisden ’s table of batsmen who have reached this first-class milestone, which these days covers some 62 players.