Lives in Cricket No 19 - Frank Sugg

Chapter Eight Lancashire Stalwart The Lancashire committee took further steps to strengthen the side for the 1889 season with the recruitment of two batsmen, Albert Ward and Arthur Paul, and the fast bowler Arthur Mold, none of whom were born in the county. All were quality players, Ward and Mold both later to play for England. The addition of a fast bowler of Mold’s ability, perhaps the fastest bowler in the country on his day – albeit with an action not entirely beyond suspicion – gave a cutting edge to an attack that hitherto had been too dependent on Johnny Briggs and Alec Watson. Briggs took 140 wickets at 11.75 in 1889, Mold 102 at 11.83 and Watson 90 at 12.65, the three occupying second, third and fourth places in the first-class bowling averages. This was the main reason for Lancashire’s much better performance in the Championship. They won ten of their 14 matches and shared the title with Surrey and Nottinghamshire, under the points system devised by the Cricket Reporting Agency. Buoyed by his two Test appearances, Frank Sugg also enjoyed a more successful season than in 1888. He played in all 14 matches in the County Championship, scoring 578 runs and topping the Lancashire averages with 32.11. He played in another six first-class matches, his total of runs in the season being 747 at an average of 27.67. Of his Lancashire colleagues, only Ward outscored him with a total of 822 in all first-class matches at an average of 30.44. Ward’s solid batting was a major contributor to Lancashire’s success in 1889. During the match late in the season at Kennington Oval, when Lancashire beat their rivals Surrey for the second time in the season, Frank Sugg reached the milestone of 3,000 runs in first-class cricket. He also had the satisfaction of steering Lancashire home with an innings of 44 not out after, needing only 72 runs for victory in their second innings, Lancashire had lost their first two wickets for only five runs. Yet Sugg did not reach three figures in any of his innings in 1889, his top score being 89 for the North against the South at Old Trafford, the benefit match for Lancashire’s wicketkeeper Richard Pilling. In this innings, Sugg 68