Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

became apparent that Joe could not swim, Les felt obliged to dive in and rescue him! When MCC moved south to Hobart to play a Combined XI (a side with seven Tasmanians reinforced by Oldfield, Grimmett, Badcock and Ward), Joe was back in the team. This time he reached 100 for the first and, as it transpired, only time on the tour. On the first day MCC reached 392 for eight, with Joe unbeaten on 94. The next morning he reached his century and was out finally for 110, having batted for 155 minutes and hitting three sixes and 12 fours. Unfortunately rain on the last day prevented any chance of a result. Matters were now looking up for Joe. His form with the bat had improved. He had made important runs in the First Test. His 110 at Hobart had been made off an attack which had included not only Frank Ward but also the evergreen Clarrie Grimmett. He was also recognised as one of the best outfielders in the team. He was rested for the return match against South Australia and thus had a break of ten days before the Fourth Test which began at Adelaide on 29 January. To make certain of the Ashes, England needed to win. For a while things went their way. By the end of the second day, Australia had been dismissed for 288 and England were well placed at 174 for two, but the third day saw a distinct shift in favour of Australia. Although England had reached 330, which gave them a lead of 42, Australia were 21 ahead with nine wickets remaining. The England batsmen had failed to build on their good start. Joe batted at seven and made 20 before being caught and bowled by McCormick when trying to hook him. Before this he had experienced great difficulties with the spin of O’Reilly and Fleetwood-Smith. Cardus was rather derogatory about Joe’s efforts, saying that ‘his bat was all ambiguous pushes at the spin’. Thanks to 212 from Bradman, Australia made 433, which meant that England had to make 391 to win. Barnett and Verity put on 45 for the first wicket before Verity was dismissed. Joe, now promoted to No.3, joined Barnett who left five runs later. Joined by Hammond, Joe was dropped by McCormick off O’Reilly when he had made four. Fleetwood-Smith was also posing problems. However, matters improved after tea when Fleetwood-Smith changed ends and was not so effective. McCormick replaced O’Reilly and Joe played him well. Cardus felt that Joe was batting Australian Test Tour, 1936/37 59