Lives in Cricket No 25 - Tom Richardson

53 13 wickets and 244 runs. He never bowled again in a test match at Manchester. 117 As often with Cardus, it is the style rather than the substance which commands attention and a certain amount of poetic licence has to be allowed. He was eight years old at the time. Cricket said much the same, but rather more prosaically. Richardson alone seemed likely to get wickets and he rose to the occasion in a truly remarkable manner…. Richardson kept steadily on, and frequently missed the wicket by a hair’s breadth – it was one of those days, which all bowlers know so well, when the ball would do anything except hit the wicket. Every now and then, however, he broke through the defence of a batsman and a wicket fell although he enjoyed little rest (this could not be helped for in him the hope of England lay) and he was as difficult at the end of the innings as he was when he began to bowl. …. a very great performance, since he had practically nobody who could help him. 118 The reality of Richardson’s actions at the end of the Test is rather more basic than the Cardus version. Drawing on the eye-witness account of one who was there, David Frith describes how Richardson raced from the field and downed two pints of ale before the rest of the team had removed their boots. 119 The match finished on a Saturday evening. No Sunday cricket in those days of course, but after that Herculean effort at Old Trafford, it must have been something of a relief to Richardson when Surrey won the toss and batted against Middlesex at Lord’s the following Monday. Nevertheless, once Surrey were out for 300 (in the popular cliché, Richardson, not unusually, failed to trouble the scorers), he was in action again by the end of the day on his way to 28-6-82-5 and as Middlesex were 141 short of the Surrey total and obliged to follow on – compulsory then in the event of a deficit of 120 or more, the option of batting again to ‘rest’ his bowlers was not available to Kingsmill Key. Richardson then bowled through the second innings, 15-5-37-5, leading his county to a victory by an innings and 58 runs. At least it gave him and his colleagues a day off before twelve wickets at Catford Bridge. A defeat by the Australians and a win against Yorkshire followed. During the latter match, Richardson sailed through 200 first-class wickets for the third consecutive season and then produced another of his destructive performances before a capacity attendance in the traditional Bank Holiday fixture against Nottinghamshire at The Oval. Before an enormous crowd, numbering about 28,000, Notts enjoyed the privilege of batting first on Bank Holiday; but partly owing to a 117 A Cricketer’s Book pp 46-49 118 23 July 1896 119 Caught England, Bowled Australia p 196 1896...Annus Mirabilis...England