Lives in Cricket No 25 - Tom Richardson

60 Hayward a great advantage. The very beginning of the match was disastrous and ominous for Essex, Carpenter being bowled neck and crop with the first ball of the innings by Richardson… one or two balls from Richardson acted very queerly, and the batsmen were not able to inspire confidence in their success. In the end, Surrey needed only ten to win: as in the Gentlemen v Players match earlier in the season, Richardson was allowed to open the innings. He did the job, making all ten and completing the victory set up earlier by his seven for 60 in the first innings. Then, at Beckenham Almost from the beginning of this match it was seen that runs would only be made with the greatest of difficulty and that some pluck would be required to stand up against the fast bowlers. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that Richardson was in clover, and that Kent were outclassed. … if ever there was a certainty in cricket, it was certain that runs could not be made against Richardson and Hayward. Richardson’s 27.3-11-49-8 and 16.5-5-53-6 was the principal contributory factor to a win by 156 runs in under two days. Then came what Cricket styled THE GREAT COUNTY MATCH OF 1897 , against Lancashire at The Oval and likely to determine the County Championship. In fact, it didn’t. Surrey won the match by six wickets, but the remainder of the season’s results went Lancashire’s way. They won the Championship for the first time. Although it was not absolutely certain that the result of this match would determine which side would be Champion County for the ensuing year, there can be no question that the meeting of the two counties was considered by most people as a sort of final tie ... after lunch a most remarkable change came over the game. Sugg increased his score by 7 – he was 50 not out at lunch time – and was then bowled by Richardson, after which the end came with surprising suddenness. Lees and Richardson were the bowlers, the former taking three wickets after lunch for four runs in five overs, and the latter three for ten runs in the same number of overs. 137 Surrey lost by 66 runs at Taunton, but Richardson remained top of the tree both in his home county and in England: Richardson is the bright particular star among English bowlers at present; no amount of work seems to tire him, and his performances for Surrey were simply wonderful. Lees backed him up well and worked hard to fill the void left by Lohmann. 138 137 Cricket 26 August 1897 138 Cricket 9 September 1897 1897...Jubilee and Millennium