Lives in Cricket No 26 - HV Hesketh-Prichard

102 and Mead were the first three in the first-class averages for the year. Hex may have gone on to play a couple of games for Free Foresters or I Zingari at this time, but there is nothing definite. In June 1912, though, presumably to coincide with the Triangular Tournament in that year, Hex wrote a long piece for Pearson’s entitled The World’s Team v The Men in the Moon. Surprisingly, this was not to play the Martians, who had been much in vogue since 1899, when The War of the Worlds was published. Apart from picking his own team he extracted opinions from Aubrey Faulkner, R.E.Foster, Teddy Wynyard, S.J.Snooke, Dr Russell Bencraft and an ‘Australian list’. Just an ‘Australian list’, because the draconian rules of the Australian Board seemed to prevent any of the touring side saying anything about anything or even appearing to have done so. Interestingly, Hex began the piece by decrying selection by average, as suggested by an imaginary correspondent: ‘Why play Pluggemin? Pluggemin’s average is fifty-one wickets for 20.19 each, whereas Charlie Tossemup has fifty-nine for 17.38. The omission of Tossemup’s name from the list of the selected is a crying scandal.’ Hex began his team by picking the world’s four best batsmen – C.B.Fry, G.A.Faulkner, V.T.Trumper and J.B.Hobbs. Hobbs made every list, Faulkner every list but his own, Trumper and Fry every list but the Australian. But of course Trumper and Clem Hill, among others, were not on this tour following a dispute with the Board of Control, and in this case there is little doubt that Big Brother was watching the ‘selectors’. Then he picked the three best bowlers – F.R.Foster, S.F.Barnes and J.B.King. This is an interesting choice because it is three opening bowlers who all did rather more than bowl fast, almost like Hex himself! Barnes and Foster had won the Ashes in 1911/12 and would be England’s opening attack in the 1912 Tests. John Barton King, of course, was not there as he played for Philadelphia. Hex remarks that he would have picked Colin Blythe ‘but his temperament is (they say) rather unsuited to Test matches.’ Blythe was indeed to play no more Test cricket, but this seems a harsh verdict on a man who took 100 wickets in 19 Tests. (Though apparently Blythe suffered from his nerves to such an extent that his doctor recommended he play no more Test cricket.) Hex confuses things further by saying ‘he is probably infinitely the best slow left-hand bowler in the world’. To these he added P.W.Sherwell. Percy Sherwell was not in fact with the South African side in 1912, though up to that time he had been captain, with wicketkeeping duties being shared by Tom Ward and Tommy Campbell. Indeed Sherwell, though only 30 years old, would only play one more first-class match, and that a pick-up game in 1913/14. Interestingly, everyone else also picked Sherwell. But then the England keeper this summer was ‘Tiger’ Smith, with just four Tests behind him, and the Australians picked William Barlow Carkeek. His next pick was Jessop, who Before the War