Lives in Cricket No 26 - HV Hesketh-Prichard

77 288. Hex took one for 72 off 17 overs. This was the last first-class game Hex played that year; indeed he was to play only once for Hampshire in 1907 and after that did not return until 1912. The county side did much better in 1906, managing to finish as high as eighth in the table, with a local professional, John Badcock, effectively taking Hex’s place and managing 96 wickets in the season. However, Hex turned out at Lord’s again in July, playing in a one-day game for the Authors against the Actors. He took four wickets as the Actors were bowled out for 106, bowling unchanged with Sydney Pawling, a Middlesex amateur, of Heinemann publishing. The Actors included C.Aubrey Smith and Gerald du Maurier: the Authors P.G.Wodehouse and E.W.Hornung. The Authors made 140; Hex only made 1, but he did get to bat at No.6. The Actors made 122 for seven in their second innings, Hex not bowling as others were given a chance and Wodehouse took three wickets. The Authors had played the Press at Lord’s as early as 1896, with Conan Doyle probably the prime mover, and had then played odd games over the years, but from 1905 to 1909 they met the Actors at Lord’s every year, and for three years after that the Publishers. He did play at Worplesdon again, though we have no score for this match and (Kate tells us) at Lady Katty Coke’s week. Lady Katherine Coke was married to a younger son of the Earl of Leicester and reputed to have been a mistress of King Edward VII, though she was twelve years older than him. This cricket week was at Longford Hall in Derbyshire where he had played before. Regular country-house cricket was played there and at Holkham in Norfolk, both belonging to the Earl of Leicester. In 1906 Hex played for Longford against Osmaston Manor, where he top scored with 30 in a total of 71; for Derbyshire Friars twice, one at the County Ground; and for Mr F.W.Gilbert’s XI. He did not bowl much in these games. The Longford sides were ridiculously strong: one contained R.E Foster, F.S.Jackson, B.J.T.Bosanquet and Teddy Wynyard as well as Hex. What Hex did next was to set off for Ireland with I Zingari, in a team captained by Teddy Wynyard. This included a two-day game on the Viceregal ground at Phoenix Park in Dublin against the Gentlemen of Ireland. Ireland made 234 (Hex three for 57) and 230 (Hex four for 54) but I Zingari could manage only 144 and 67 with Gus Kelly (that is to say, Gustavus William Francis Blake Kelly, whose last first-class match had been the University match in 1902) taking four for 56 and eight for 30. The presence of the Lord Lieutenant and the Countess of Aberdeen may be worth a mention and the Irish press certainly thought so. The next match was against the Military of Ireland, played thirteen-a-side and again in the presence of the Aberdeens: clearly the I Zingari matches ranked high on the Dublin social calendar. In this game Hex took ten for 35 – full analysis 17.2-6-35-10 – in the first innings, out of eleven wickets that fell for 135 – though he actually wrote to Kate to say that he had not bowled very well that day. He took four for 69 in the second innings. I Zingari also played H.M.S.Albion at Bray, and Hex claimed that ‘I was only allowed to bowl one over as I got two men out.’ In the end this tour would be more important Travel with Ball or Gun