Lives in Cricket No 26 - HV Hesketh-Prichard

69 highest first-class score and described as batting ‘splendidly’. He took two for 64 in the first innings, then was run out for one before he could repeat his heroics. In the second innings he took three for 42 as the West Indies XI fell just short and lost by four runs. The report describes Hex as ‘bowling very fast in a moderate light, left the West Indies 44 to win with four wickets in hand.’ There were two run outs at the end – in a timeless match. There was then a last first-class match against Trinidad, which Trinidad won. Hex bowled six overs in the first innings, taking two for 13, and only four overs without taking a wicket in the second. All was over by 6 April. So he played in only five of the ten first-class matches, and in them took only 14 wickets at 22.21. This seems to have been due to injury and illness, but perhaps his interests were now tipping in the direction of the literary. George Thompson, doing the professional business, took 126 wickets in all matches, and 75 at 13.97 in the first-class fixtures. The tour had its historical importance. Lord Brackley went home and talked to people, and a result was that the next West Indian touring team, in 1906, got to play thirteen first-class matches (as the 1901 team had not). * * * * * * * In 1905 Hex played less first-class cricket, though it seems he may have played a fair amount of a lower standard: he was elected to both the Free Foresters and I Zingari this year. This, arguably, was a step-up socially: both of these wandering clubs were initially restricted to University men, meaning Oxford and Cambridge of course. Playing with Barrie’s teams would have opened some doors to country- house cricket, but only at the more arty end. And country-house cricket was very much thriving. Christopher Douglas said in an article in Wisden 39 that for about fifty years up until the First World War, [cricket] was available all summer to anyone with the ability and the time to devote themselves to playing cricket. Accommodation with full board was provided for those who wanted it, plus, for sought-after players, discreet inducements. Country house cricket was not just a cricket lover’s dream, it was a freeloader’s fantasy. Albert Knight said ‘Country house cricket reminds one of days spent in eating apples under an old tree, reading The Earthly Paradise of William Morris.’ 40 Not quite pâté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets, but not bad work if you could get it. From about this time Hex can be seen to have played a fair amount of recreational cricket, much of it with I Zingari but some for Free Foresters. The IZ history says that the club ‘continued to enjoy the hospitality of the owners of beautiful country houses’ . IZ were also quite capable of turning 39 Christopher Douglas, Temples of Bumblepuppy, in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack , 2004, p.55. 40 Albert Knight, The Complete Cricketer, Methuen, 1906. One of the Gentlemen