Lives in Cricket No 19 - Frank Sugg

Mold and Briggs were outstanding, Mold taking 187 wickets at 11.60 and Briggs 137 at 13.83. Without them, Lancashire’s season would have been a sorry one indeed. Frank Sugg’s season also started badly. In his first ten appearances he mustered only 186 runs in 18 innings, an average score of 10.33. There was serious talk of dropping him. Fortunately his form improved and he eventually scored 1,033 runs, the second time he totalled over a thousand runs in a season. His average was 27.18, higher in the first-class list than any other Lancashire player. Sugg appeared in all 16 championship games and scored 717 runs at 28.68, Baker pipping him for first place in the Lancashire championship averages. He made two centuries, both against Somerset, 105 at Old Trafford, the innings that ended his dismal start to the season, and 157 not out at Taunton. In the match at Old Trafford, Somerset batted first and were shot out for 31, Mold taking seven for 10 in nine devastating five-ball overs, including the hat-trick, all clean bowled, with Briggs taking the Lancashire Stalwart 77 The Lancashire side which finished fourth in the Championship in 1894. Standing (l to r): A.W.Mold, A.G.Paul, S.Lunt (scorer), G.R.Baker, A.P.Smith. Seated: A.Ward, S.M.Tindall, A.C.MacLaren (capt), G.R.Bardswell, F.H.Sugg. On the ground: J.Briggs, C.Smith (wk), A.Tinsley.