Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

The 1930 season saw an improvement in the second eleven’s fortunes. Two out of the eight matches were won and the team rose to thirteenth in the Minor Counties table, but once again the bowling did not match the batting. Wisden felt that Joe’s batting was a promising feature of the season. He scored 314 runs in the eight-match campaign with a highest score of 100 against Denbighshire, the weakest side in the competition, at Chirk on 2 and 3 July. He was also to the fore in Club and Ground games, scoring 144 against the County Schools eleven, 69 against a Public Schools side and 52 against Sir Julien Cahn’s XI. He was also having a very successful season for Annesley. He made 55 against Shirebrook, 68 against Bentinck, 36 (top score out of a total of 74) against New Hucknall and 110 against Welbeck. For once The Mansfield and Kirkby Chronicle reported events more fully, under the headline ‘Hardstaff’s brilliant century’. His innings was described as ‘faultless’; he obtained his runs rapidly ‘with delightful strokes all round the wicket.’ The following week he made 60 against Hardwick. In a low-scoring match against Rufford he made 17 out of 89. Rufford were then dismissed for 62. He hit an unbeaten 94 in a ten-wicket victory over Mansfield Colliery. It was Saturday, 5 August which saw his greatest triumph. Annesley made 331 against Shirebrook. Joe and Dick Flint made 231 for the first wicket before Flint was out for 93. Joe went on to reach 182 which included 37 boundaries. A dispirited Shirebrook were dismissed for 140. All this success for the second eleven and for Annesley was enough to convince the Notts committee that he was worthy of a trial in the first eleven. For the match against Lancashire at Trent Bridge, on 23, 25 and 26 August, Joe replaced the injured Wilf Payton. It is worth noting that Joe was forced to change in the corridor outside the Nottinghamshire dressing room: the other (mostly) much older players did not want him to get too big for his boots. 5 This match was keenly anticipated as both Lancashire and Nottinghamshire were in a position to win the Championship. Unfortunately not a ball could be bowled on the Saturday. Lancashire batted all through Monday and into Tuesday, before declaring at 318 for 18 Groundstaff to First Eleven, 1928-1930 5 In the chapter of his book, Cricket and England, dealing with ‘hierarchy’, Jack Williams reported Willis Walker saying that it was difficult for young players to make their way ‘because the established players did not want to lose one another’s company.’ According to John Clay, who first played for Notts in 1948, this attitude was still in evidence after the Second World War.