Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

The fourth match against New Zealand, which began on 6 March, also ended in a draw, with heavy rain preventing any play on the third and final day. MCC made 195 – Joe out for nought. Largely thanks to Jack Kerr, who made 132, New Zealand took a lead of 139. MCC had reached 142 for two by the end of the second day. This gave them a lead of three runs. Joe was unbeaten on 36 and Smith was 40 not out. At that point they had added 79 for the third wicket. The last day could have been interesting. By the end of the tour Joe had appeared in 13 first-class matches and had scored 1,044 runs in 21 innings. Aided by four not outs he had an average of 61.40. Jim Parks had the next highest aggregate, 808 runs, and Denis Smith was second in the averages with 711 runs at 47.40. Amongst the batsmen Joe was ‘the outstanding success’ of the tour. His Test prospects for 1936 and beyond looked most promising. It was a very happy tour. In Flannelled Foolishness , a cheerful book written in 1957, Errol Holmes said that ‘we were all firm friends when we arrived back in England … and we are still friends to this day’. With MCC to Australia and New Zealand, 1935/36 43