Lives in Cricket No 19 - Frank Sugg

Chapter One Not Merely a Smiter Frank Sugg was one of the most colourful cricketers in late Victorian England. Over six feet tall and powerfully built, with a good eye and a long reach, he was a forward player renowned for his big hitting and fast scoring. ‘I have cultivated hitting,’ he said, 1 and he applied himself, right-handed, to the task with relish. As with Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff in recent times, there was a buzz of anticipation among the crowd at any ground whenever he strode out to bat. It was not just the big hitting that appealed to spectators, it was also Sugg’s evident enjoyment in batting, whatever the match situation. Frank Sugg made his name in the thirteen seasons from 1887 until 1899 during which he played for Lancashire. But he was not born in the county. His birthplace was Ilkeston on the other side of the country. Sugg was one of several players who had started their careers with other counties whom Lancashire imported in the 1880s during an effort to bolster a faltering side, particularly to strengthen its batting. By the time he retired from first-class cricket at the end of the 1899 season, Frank had scored 9,620 runs for Lancashire with 15 centuries, more than any other Lancashire batsman at that time. In all first-class cricket he scored 11,859 runs and made 16 centuries. This record may not be quite good enough to put him in the first rank of cricketers in the years that began cricket’s Golden Age, but they were solid achievements by any standard. It should be added that Sugg was also an outstanding fielder with a safe pair of hands and a strong throw. Frank’s reputation was not based just on his prowess at cricket. He excelled at several other sports and he ran a successful business based in Liverpool, then a prosperous port and industrial city. He played football for a number of leading northern clubs in the years before the Football League was established in 1888 and he was still young and fit enough to play a few games for Everton after that 7 1 Interviewed on the eve of his benefit match in June 1897: newspaper cutting provided by Malcolm Lorimer, newspaper not identified.