Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

It was in this set of matches that Joe had first-hand experience of the genius of ‘Old George’ Gunn. On 18 June, Gunn had returned to the team after his injury for the match against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Joe found himself up against Charlie Parker. In The Trent Bridge Battery , Basil Haynes and John Lucas recall Joe telling them how he had found it impossible to cope with Parker’s left-arm spin. In Joe’s words: ‘I couldn’t lay a bat on him. So I went down the wicket at the end of an over and said to George, “I’m sorry, Mr Gunn, but I don’t like this.” “Don’t you worry,” he said, “leave him to me.” And Joe added, wonderingly, ‘He played him for half an hour until I got my bearings and he made him look easy . The ball never got away from the middle of the bat.’ Gunn scored 58. He was to play in two more matches that summer before finally retiring at the age of 53. Joe returned to the side for the Worcestershire match before missing Nottinghamshire’s ten-wicket defeat at Headingley. He probably regarded himself as fortunate to miss this particular match as this was the occasion when Notts were dismissed in their second innings for 67, with Hedley Verity famously taking ten for 10 in 19.4 overs. Included in the next eight matches Joe managed only 103 runs at an average of 14.71. Two further games saw two visits to the crease for a further eight runs. It had been a dismal season. The other young players had all made better progress. Walter Keeton had scored 1,932 runs averaging 46.00 and was being tipped as a future England player. Charlie Harris had scored 1,081 runs. Although less successful than Harris and Keeton, G.V.Gunn had done considerably better than Joe. The Cricketer felt that he was contesting the last batting place with Frank Shipston who this season had scored 461 runs in ten matches, averaged 35.46 and had been awarded his county cap. In seeking a reason for Joe’s lack of progress in 1932, perhaps it is worth noting that at the end of the season, on 28 September 1932, at St Thomas’s Church, East Kirkby, he married Clara (‘Cissie’) Rose. No doubt for much of the season Joe’s centre of attention might have been focused on other things apart from cricket. The newly married couple lived with Joe’s parents until they were able to buy an almost new, detached house – 28 Wilson Avenue, Kirkby-in-Ashfield – a year or two later. Subsequently they were to move to Cedar Avenue before finally moving into The Park in Nottingham. Making His Way, 1931-1934 24