Lives in Cricket No 26 - HV Hesketh-Prichard

99 By 1912 Hampshire had some much more formidable cricketers around. C.B.Fry, attached to the T.S.Mercury , was playing regularly, and Philip Mead had begun his long and distinguished career. In the field the county now had the inspirational pairing of Jack Newman and Alec Kennedy ready to bowl all day, but the team was short of quick bowling. There is a manuscript note appended to a press cutting in one of Hex’s scrapbooks – not in his writing! – which says ‘Newman had been much discouraged and underbowled under Sprot. There was a very notable change in his success from the time H played for Hampshire, especially when captaining the side.’ Who added the note I don’t know, but there is no record of Hex having captained the county, though he may have done so in odd games where this was not formally recorded; Sprot was the appointed county captain until 1914. Newman did bowl more after the war, when there was no alternative, but bowled a fair amount before it – after all, he took 156 wickets in 1910 – and would not have played much with Hex until this year. Hex played for Hampshire for about a month in 1912, so was presumably on leave from Ireland. The first game was against Worcestershire at Worcester, and the home side made 334. Remarkably, Hex bowled 30 overs, taking five for 116. There is a letter from Hex who was staying at the Star Hotel, Worcester, referring to this match, and saying ‘I think Hants are the worst bowling side I have ever seen.’ Given that it now included Newman and Kennedy, this seems a harsh judgement, possibly inspired by Hex having Pearson dropped in the slips early on and then seeing him make a hundred. Incidentally, the county history says ‘the fielding all the season was splendid’. 53 Hampshire’s reply was 323 (Mead 135), but Hex on the third morning was sensational in the second innings, bowling 13.3 overs and taking six for 18 to bowl Worcestershire out for 80, having taken the first three wickets to leave them 11 for three. Hampshire knocked the runs off for the loss of two wickets. 53 H.S.Altham and others, Hampshire County Cricket: The Official History , p.70. Before the War Cartoonist’s and batsman’s view of Hex’s later bowling.