Lives in Cricket No 19 - Frank Sugg

authorities in Derby. He was told that if he did not play for Derby County at football, he would not play for Derbyshire at cricket. A stubborn man, Frank stuck to his guns and did not play for Derby County at all in the 1886/87 season. According to Frank, 39 his letters to Derbyshire went unanswered. He does not say whether he was trying to get the county club to change its position and, if so, what arguments he put to them. But then, shortly before the opening match of the 1887 season, he received a letter saying he had been selected for Derbyshire for the fixture against MCC at Lord’s. He wired his refusal. As well as having his fallback position with Burnley cricket club, Frank was strengthened in throwing down the gauntlet in this way by the knowledge that James Sutcliffe, later president of the Lancashire League, had recommended him to the Lancashire county committee. Although Derbyshire tried to argue otherwise, Frank understood – no doubt applying his legally trained mind to the detail of the qualification rules – that during the course of the season he would become qualified to play for Lancashire by residence. The position he took was nevertheless a risky one but, as Frank was to show throughout his life, he was never a man to shirk a risky decision. Fortuitously for Sugg, Lancashire were keen to strengthen their playing staff by recruiting any available quality players, even those of other counties. Frank Sugg would bolster Lancashire’s batting and the offer of an engagement with the county was made to take effect as soon as the two-year qualification rule was satisfied – 11 July 1887. Until then, Frank continued to play for Burnley and other club sides. When an invitation was attractive enough, he was prepared to make long journeys to play cricket. (One reflects how important to the development of cricket was the railway boom of Victorian Britain.) In a brief tour of Scotland, Sugg scored 73 and 52 for an England XI against the West of Scotland club. He then guested for West of Scotland against Bryn-y-neuadd, a Caernarvonshire side ‘which included some professionals of repute’, and hit 172 out of 271 and an unbeaten 42 out of 48. 40 With his period of qualification finally out of the way, and feeling ready to renew the challenges of first-class cricket, Frank Sugg was chosen to make his debut for his new, and third, county in Lancashire’s match against MCC at Lord’s beginning on 21 July 1887. Playing for Yorkshire and Derbyshire 41 39 Athletic News , 2 August 1887. 40 The Cricketers’ Yearbook , 1888.