Lives in Cricket No 2 - Johnny Briggs

Billy Murdoch, the Australian captain, was so impressed with Barlow’s performance that he approached him as he left the field and said those immortal words ‘I take my cap off to you’ which later became ‘I take my hat off to you’. Although he left school at 14, Barlow was a talented and inventive man and designed wicket covers, removable cricket spikes, the single-strap leg-guard, an air-tight valve and a laceless football. Unfortunately, his covers were by no means in universal use – not even at Old Trafford. Barlow lamented after the 1890 Test in Manchester, where not a single ball was bowled because of the inclement weather: ‘Much of this disappointment might have been avoided if my patent wicket protector had been used.’ He played football to county level and later became a referee, officiating at a match that has been etched into soccer folklore – the FA Cup first round tie between Preston North End and Hyde FC at Deepdale in October 1887 which ended in a record 26-0 win for Preston. Barlow wrote later in his reminiscences: ‘I may say that had the Hyde goalkeeper not been in good form, North End would have materially increased their score. I have never seen such splendid shooting and passing in my life.’ Barlow also umpired at first-class level for 21 years, including one Test match. Thirty two years after refereeing that famous FA Cup tie, Barlow died at the age of 68. He was buried at Stanley Park cemetery, Blackpool, not far from one of Lancashire’s most popular ‘out grounds’. It was in 1885, now 23 but still looking more like a boy than a man, that Briggs came of age as a cricketer, playing at representative level as a batsman and proving his worth for Lancashire as a bowler. Prior to that season, Lancashire had relied on Barlow, Watson, Nash and Crossland as their main bowling attack. But both Nash and Crossland were under scrutiny over their allegedly suspect actions and the latter was also dogged by questions over whether he was residentially qualified to play for Lancashire. In fact, Nash and Crossland had both played in Lancashire’s first two matches of the season – against Oxford University in a twelve- a-side game, and against Kent. Crossland, like Briggs, came from Sutton-in-Ashfield, and regularly returned to the county of his birth to work as a coal miner. Despite this residential discrepancy, Lancashire continued to field Crossland, ignoring objections from several counties. But it was Nottinghamshire, closely matched with Lancashire in the fight for the championship in the previous four seasons, who 30 Coming of age as a cricketer