Lives in Cricket No 29 - AN Hornby

99 Author and cricket historian Eric Midwinter summed up his captaincy in these well-chosen words: He was one of the first cricket captains to think collectively and gather his players into a team. The parts fitted together and worked hard for each other, their fielding strength being an indicative token of that togetherness. He proved to be a well-informed and cunning leader, not only capable of building and moulding his colleagues into a superior outfit, but of assiduously sapping at the weak linkages of his opponents. So how does one summarise the career of a man for whom the phrase multi-faceted might have been coined? After all, Hornby was one of the great batsmen of his era and captained England in two Tests and played in one other. It was considered by many that his only superior as a batsman in this period was the legendary W.G.Grace. An astute and often inspirational captain of Lancashire for 20 years, he demanded – and received – the utmost loyalty from all who played under him. In all, he played for the Red Rose county for almost 33 years. He led Lancashire in 232 of his 292 games for them. His bowling, however, never reached anywhere near Grace’s heights. The bearded wonder claimed 2,809 wickets in 870 first- class appearances, while Hornby, bowling left- and right-handed underarm deliveries harvested just eleven wickets in his 437 first- class matches. Off the field he was president of Lancashire for 22 years and served as chairman for a further 20 years, bringing his association with Lancashire to a remarkable 49 years. It’s an unbroken span of service that will never be beaten. However, there was a surprising challenge to Hornby’s presidency at the annual meeting of December 1907. It was pointed out, respectfully of course, that success in a playing capacity didn’t always translate itself to an off-field role. There were also grumblings about the state of the finances, the decline in the number of members and the loss of the club’s better players. But the committee wouldn’t support the move and the resolution was withdrawn. Despite the resolution’s withdrawal, within ten years the club had decided that presidents could only stay in office for two years. In the event it meant that President Hornby had served What are we to make of him?