Lives in Cricket No 19 - Frank Sugg

conveniently placed occasional table. His high spirits could take bizarre forms. According to family legend, Frank perched a pet animal on his shoulder for a formal photograph taken at his wedding. To give zest to another wedding celebration, Frank apparently arranged for a works brass band to greet a daughter and her husband when they emerged from church. There seems little doubt that Frank would have been something of a dressing-room prankster. Other players have scored more runs for Lancashire and have received more recognition at the Test match level than Frank Sugg. His reputation rests not on the statistics of his long career, but on the manner in which he made his runs. As one newspaper report put it on the eve of his benefit match in 1897: Short or long as his stay at the wickets may be, he never fails to give joy to the spectators. There is something – we must not use the word offensively – rollicking in his style. He must get at the ball, and if possible send it to the far boundary. We have heard it said that ‘one hour of Sugg is worth ten hours of a stonewaller’ and for ourselves we regard the expression as Not Merely a Smiter 10 Fading glories. Photograph taken at his wedding celebration in 1889, with perhaps a pet animal making an appearance on his left shoulder.