Lives in Cricket No 26 - HV Hesketh-Prichard

98 Chapter Eight Before the War Hex was still an aide-de-camp in Dublin, his duties appearing to occupy him for the Court season, but early in 1912 he was elected to the management committee of the Society of Authors, with his first meeting in March, and two more in April before he missed a meeting on 29 April. After that, as far as they were concerned, he rather disappeared for the summer. He may well have been busy – his daughter Diana was born on 26 March. Then, remarkably, came a return to first-class cricket. He had last played serious cricket with any regularity in 1906, and was now 35 years old. Although in the years between he had played plenty of cricket, most of it was not exactly serious. But he was to come back with some success. At the beginning of May he turned out for MCC at Lord’s in a couple of games. On 1 May he played for MCC against Nottinghamshire. C.B.Fry, now playing for Hampshire, was in the MCC side, and possibly captained it; he may have suggested to Hex he could still play county cricket. Fry then went on to captain England in the Triangular Tournament that summer. In this game, MCC scored 472, with 131 from Aubrey Faulkner. Nottinghamshire reached 220, with Hex taking five for 75, which may have surprised him. They had reached 61 for none but Hex and Tarrant reduced them to 86 for six before they made some kind of recovery. The Times said nothing except that Notts batted badly. At their second attempt Nottinghamshire made 196, Hex two for 66, with the Australian slow left-armer Frank Tarrant, then playing for Middlesex, taking seven for 88. All The Times had to say here was that Alexander Crawford hit Hex for 16 off one over. The Club then played Yorkshire. MCC were bowled out for 113 by Hirst and Booth, and Yorkshire made 190, Hex taking three for 25 in ten overs. The Guardian said ‘Hesketh-Prichard and King proved very effective at times’ though Hirst bowled even better for Yorkshire. The MCC second innings was 151, but they managed to push Yorkshire, who lost eight wickets scoring the 75 they needed to win. Hex took two for 10 in six overs. The MCC attack, including Frank Tarrant and George Thompson, looked better than useful, and the Guardian said they all bowled well. Whether Hex had played the MCC games as a warm-up to the county season, or whether having done reasonably well he decided or was persuaded to make a comeback, is not clear. Things looked to be improving for Hampshire, sitting in mid-table in 1909 and finishing as high as sixth in 1910, though that slipped in 1911 when Charlie Llewellyn went off to play League cricket for Accrington.