Lives in Cricket No 16 - Joe Hardstaff

received a standing ovation from the crowd which in those more restrained times was a very rare occurrence indeed. Writing in The Daily Telegraph the Cricket Correspondent, at that time Sir Guy Campbell, 48 wrote that his 205 would ‘rank among the historic innings in Test Match cricket’, and went on to say that ’all the strokes one is accustomed to await to welcome were there.’ The Cricketer said that his batting was beautiful and faultless, and made reference to his hands being high up the bat handle. Wisden was equally enthusiastic. In Indian Summer , John Arlott described his batting as being ‘like a well-written textbook’. In Lancashire Hot-Pot , Terence Prittie referred to him as ‘England’s supreme stylist today’, and in Second Innings , in which he collaborated with John Kay, the authors had this to say: ‘Hardstaff meanwhile batted as if he could play for ever. He had no doubts, no hesitations, only an unvarying courtly command of the game and of the exact ethics of batsmanship.’ The Indians made 275 in their second innings, which meant that England needed only 48 to win, a task Hutton and Washbrook completed without difficulty. This was Alec Bedser’s first Test Match and he recalled in 2009 that, after he had finished the match with a haul of eleven wickets, Joe came over to him and told him that he had booked his passage for Australia. Joe then handed him his England cap with the words, ‘Take this home and give it to your mother.’ Although Joe never wore a cap, it was a most generous gesture as players were given only the one cap. Bedser never forgot the incident. He also said that he was glad not to have been bowling to Joe when he was making his double-century. Joe appeared in the second Test Trial at Canterbury and scored 69. E.W.Swanton, now the Daily Telegraph correspondent, said of this innings that it was ‘as polished as ever’. He followed this by leading the Players to an innings victory over the Gentlemen at Lord’s which, strangely, was Joe’s last appearance in this fixture. He next travelled to Manchester for the Second Test, but contributed little, Amarnath dismissing him for five and a duck. It was a low-scoring game in poor weather and ended with the Indian tenth-wicket pair holding out for the final 13 minutes to achieve a draw. Attention was now focused on the forthcoming tour to Australia and New Zealand. MCC would have preferred not to have sent a Post-War Years, 1946-1948 89 48 He was shortly to be replaced by E.W.Swanton, who remained in the post until 1975.