Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

destined never to visit as a player. Instead he set off for New Zealand with Sir Julien Cahn’s team on what turned out to be its last overseas tour. An extremely successful business man, Cahn had amassed a huge fortune from his furniture companies. A genuine philanthropist, he had run his own cricket team since 1923 and had already been on tours to Jamaica, Argentina, Denmark, North America, and Ceylon/Malaya. Sir Julien liked to win and always made certain that his teams were as powerful as possible. In order to achieve this objective he employed a good number of cricketers in his various businesses. The team for New Zealand consisted of Sir Julien Cahn, Stewart Dempster, Cyril Goodway, George Heane, Vic Jackson, J.G. ‘Ginty’ Lush, Cecil Maxwell, Harold Mudge, Jack Walsh, all of whom were Cahn employees, and, in addition to Joe, the following county professionals: Arnold Dyson, Eddie Phillipson, Norman Oldfield, Peter Smith and Eddie Watts. Ewart Astill acted as scorer and the manager was Sir Julien’s brother-in-law, E.G.Wolfe. The team, accompanied by Lady Cahn, her maid and Sir Julien’s barber, left England on the SS Monterey on 6 January. It was a highly successful venture, making a profit of £155 which Sir Julien donated to the New Zealand Cricket Council. Unfortunately there was a lot of poor weather and only two out of the ten matches were completed. All the games, except for the so-called ‘Test’ match at Wellington, were twelve-a-side, and were not recognized as first-class. Joe obviously enjoyed himself, scoring 160 against the Minor Associations’ side at Palmerston North and 180 against Canterbury in a three-day game at Christchurch. In addition he made fifties against Auckland Secondary Schools and Auckland. He was the most successful batsman, scoring 510 runs and averaging 63.75. The ‘Test’ match was particularly badly hit by the weather with rain preventing any play on the first two days. On the third day New Zealand batted for 154 minutes to reach 170 for five declared. Sir Julien Cahn’s XI reached 163 for seven before the match ended, Joe having made one. A shipping strike delayed the return home and so Joe was only just back in time for the start of the 1939 season. He was in fine form throughout. For Notts, still among the weaker bowling sides and again finishing twelfth, he made 1,818 championship runs including five centuries and twelve fifties. He played in all three Test Matches against the West Indies as well as for the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord’s. He would have appeared at the Regular England Player, 1937-1939 79