Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

He was considerably troubled by the fast-medium bowler Amar Singh who dismissed him seven times in first-class games – four of them in successive innings. 38 Throughout the tour there were many favourable comments about his fielding. The tour ended after the fifth ‘Test’. Lord Tennyson and the second Lady Tennyson set off on a world cruise, though by all accounts he was financially worse off than the professionals in his team, who made their way back home in readiness for the new season and the visit of the Australians. Joe found that, along with Tom Goddard, Len Hutton, Jim Parks and Eddie Paynter, he had Regular England Player, 1937-1939 71 Lord Tennyson’s Indian touring side of 1937/38 in their finest millinery. Standing (l to r): C.M.H.Barday (jt-manager), Jas.Langridge, T.P.B.Smith, A.W.Wellard, G.H.Pope, J.Hardstaff, P.A.Gibb (wk), S.Bhattarcharjee (jt-manager). Seated: A.R.Gover, T.S.Worthington, T.O.Jameson, Lord Tennyson (capt), I.A.R.Peebles, J.H.Parks, N.W.D.Yardley. On the ground: N.T.McCorkell (wk), W.J.Edrich. 38 In the match against Sind at Karachi, the initial first-class fixture of the tour, in his side’s first innings and with the score on 22 for one, Joe was run out by Khadim Hussain whilst backing up. According to a listing by Gerald Brodribb in his 1985 edition of Next Man In , this was the ninth such instance in first-class cricket. It is not known whether Joe had previously been warned, in accordance with convention. It was, though, an odd way to start a cricket tour.