Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

Introduction The two World Wars of 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945 dominated the twentieth century and had an incalculable and far-reaching effect on all those who were involved in one way or another in those earth-shattering events. Being born between 1900 and 1914 meant growing up in the shadow of the First War, trying to make a living in the economically difficult period between the wars and then being caught up in the Second War and its aftermath. One such was Joe Hardstaff junior, born in 1911, whose formative years were coloured by the First War and its painful economic aftermath. He was fortunate that his cricketing ability took him, at the age of 16, onto the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club staff and thence into the England Test team. Aged 28 in 1939, he was reaching the height of his powers only to find that his country was at war again. Instead of scoring hundreds for Nottinghamshire and England he served in the Royal Artillery in England and then in the Burma campaign with all its stresses and strains. When it was all over in 1945, not only had his best years as a cricketer gone, but also it would not be until almost the end of his career in 1955 that life in Britain was fully back to normal again. The six-year gap in his career, which prevented it from blossoming to the full, is probably why Joe has not featured more prominently in the consciousness of cricket enthusiasts and the reason that he has not received his just dues from cricket’s historians. I hope that what follows will go some way towards putting that right as well as enabling older generations to recall those days when first-class cricket was simpler and less stressful. 7