Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

Acknowledgements This book could not have been written without the help and encouragement of a lot of people and I am truly grateful to every one of them. First and foremost, I must thank the Hardstaff family for their support of the project. In particular Air Commodore Joe Hardstaff has been a great supporter throughout, always ready to answer my questions, suggesting various methods of approach, putting me in touch with various people and making some very helpful suggestions about improving the text. I am especially grateful to him for contributing the foreword. Telephone conversations with his brother Roger and his sister Helen were most helpful. I am grateful too to Joe’s wife Mary for making me so welcome on my visits to Seend. Thanks are also due to Glenys Williams and Neil Robinson at the MCC library; Jo Miller of Surrey County Cricket Club; Ann Bosman of Kimberley Boys’ High School; and the staff of the British Newspaper Library at Colindale. Philip Bailey has provided answers on a number of statistical points. Above all, however, I am extremely grateful to Peter Wynne-Thomas who warmly welcomed me to the library at Trent Bridge, patiently answering my many questions and putting his vast knowledge of Notts cricket at my disposal. In the course of my enquiries I was greatly honoured to meet the late Sir Alec Bedser, who made me very welcome at his home in Woking, and was more than happy to recall his memories of Joe Hardstaff. I am grateful to John Clay for giving freely of his time in recalling his days as a junior professional at Trent Bridge. Telephone conversations with Tom Graveney and Graham Wiltshire were a privilege and provided much background to Joe’s career. I am very grateful to David Frith, not only for his encouragement but also for some insights over the 1946/47 tour of Australia. I must also thank David Jeater, series editor, for his constant support, encouragement and constructive suggestions. Pete Griffiths at Limlow Books has done excellent work in typesetting 124