Lives in Cricket No 25 - Tom Richardson

28 four wickets . His season’s best at Bramall Lane followed in a low-scoring match when four completed innings totalled only 320 runs. His nine for 47 in the first innings in 19.4 overs which at one stage included seven for 12 in eight overs, when coupled with Lockwood’s eight for 39 in the second innings, would normally have been a match-winning performance, but the Surrey pair were eclipsed by Hirst and Wardall as Yorkshire’s 98 and 91 were sufficient to beat the visitors’ 72 and 59. There was still a shadow of suspicion over his action; but the knowledgeable Yorkshire crowd thought it was all right. David Frith has the following anecdote. After he had taken 9 for 47 against Yorkshire at Bramall Lane, with the grinders on the terraces barracking him mercilessly, one of them was asked if they resented his success because of any wrongness in his action. “We wish the booger did throw” came the response, “cos then he wouldn’t be the booger that he is!” 57 Several more impressive bowling performances characterised the season and his four for 63 and three for 66 against Nottinghamshire at The Oval, though less spectacular than many, ensured a Bank Holiday double over Surrey’s midland rivals. Later in August in a non-first-class match at Grace Road on a pitch which an overnight thunderstorm had rendered ‘all in favour of the bowlers’ 58 he bowled throughout the match for 11- 6-18-6 and 11-5-17-5 in which Surrey’s 34 and 64 played Leicestershire’s 53 and 56 for 5. Nine wickets against Somerset at The Oval and eleven against Gloucestershire at Clifton College, while not preventing Surrey’s first defeat in eight years by the county of the Graces, brought him to the climax of the season. He had already been selected for the South of England, then for the Players against the Australians and, finally, after little over a season in first-class cricket, for England in the third Test of the summer at Old Trafford. It was a début by default for two of them, neither Richardson nor his Surrey colleague Brockwell having been part of the original selection. But Lockwood had strained his leg and F.S.Jackson preferred to play for Yorkshire who also refused to release Bobby Peel. Richardson did not let his country down, continuing his Surrey form on the international stage, bowling first change behind Mold and Briggs and taking five wickets in each innings. In the first, he took out the upper middle-order of George Giffen, Harry Trott and William Bruce and in the second, had Giffen and Bruce again in addition to opener, Alex Bannerman. The match was drawn, but he had established his international credentials on his way to 174 wickets in the season at 15.4 each (still some way behind J.T.Hearne who had 212), five in an innings on twenty occasions, ten in a match on seven. He had ended the season at the Hastings Festival with six for 43 and seven for 86 for the South against the Australians, then four for 74 and five for 103 for the South against the North. 1893 was simply the prelude to four 57 The First Great Test Series p 29 58 Cricket 17 August 1893 1892-94 Surrey...and England