Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

local recreation ground (now the home of Kirkby Portland CC) close to The Cricketers’ Arms. When there was no one to play with, he would erect a bath towel on sticks and practise throwing a cricket ball from a distance to hit the towel. When his throw missed he would have a long walk to fetch the ball so he soon learned to throw accurately – a skill which was to stand him in good stead in later years. As soon as he was 14 he left school and went to work at Annesley Colliery which was one of four mines in the East Kirkby area of the Nottinghamshire coalfield, the others being Portland, Summit and Bentinck. The Annesley Colliery Company had begun sinking the two shafts of the Annesley mine in 1860 to a depth of 1,400 feet and started working two major seams. Shortly before Joe began work there, ownership passed to the New Hucknall Colliery Company, but along with much of the rest of the mining industry it was nationalized in 1947. In the 1970s Annesley eventually became linked underground with the nearby Bentinck Colliery: the combined pit, now back in private hands, closed in January 2000. Joe’s main job underground was to look after the pit ponies, an activity which suited him because he loved all animals. He used to feed the ponies carrots before putting them to work and they grew so accustomed to this treatment that one day when Joe was absent for some reason the ponies refused to start work until they had been given their carrots. One day, when working underground, he slipped and cut his arm on a bottle which he had in his jacket pocket and which shattered when he fell. Fortunately it was not too serious. When off duty as a 15- and 16-year-old he played in the Collieries Alliance League, appearing for Annesley Colliery. Previously he had played for Nuncargate and there is a story – unsubstantiated by any written record – that he formed a highly productive opening partnership with a player twice his age which was so successful that the No.3 batsman never got to the wicket and finally left for another club. It has not been possible to find any details in the local papers of his cricketing exploits in 1926 – the year of the General Strike and the miners’ strike which lasted into the early autumn. In 1927 Joe appeared regularly for Annesley. There were no outstanding performances, but he made 37 against Hardwick in early June and in July he was the only Annesley batsman to reach double figures against New Hucknall seconds. The club competed in two competitions – a league and a knock-out tournament. In Early Days, 1911-1928 11