Lives in Cricket No 29 - AN Hornby

100 What are we to make of him? ten times as long as such luminaries as Lord Derby, Sir Edwin Stockton, Lord Stanley, Sir Edward Rhodes, Rev Canon F Paton- Williams, Sir Neville Cardus and Brian Statham although a number of them served two separate terms. Of course, Hornby wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. As C.G.Howard, who served as secretary of Lancashire from 1949-1965, wrote in Lancashire County Cricket 100 Years of Cricket : ‘He ruled with a generally benevolent despotism both on and off the field.’ Hornby played nine times for England at Rugby at three-quarter and full-back, captaining the side on one occasion, and football for Blackburn Rovers. He was a keen boxer and sparred with world champion Jem Mace in Australia; he was a top-class hurdler even showing off his skills aboard the S.S.Sarmatian en route to North America. And he rode to hounds regularly with his own stable of hunters and was a regular, if sometimes erratic, shot. From a wealthy family background in an era when fast-developing, industrial Lancashire was a mixture of immense riches and dire poverty, Hornby was lucky enough to be able to play as a genuine amateur throughout his career. Later in life he recognised that the distinction between amateurs and professionals was becoming a little blurred so that when Jack Sharp, a former professional-turned-amateur, was appointed Lancashire captain in 1923, Hornby wrote: ‘Dear Sharp, Wishing you all the very best this coming season. No good my saying “play up Lancashire” because they always did and always will do. Yours ever. A.N.Hornby.’ It was a change of tune from Hornby, who years earlier, had treated with scorn the idea of any professional – or former professional – captaining the side. Sharp was too ill to play in several of the opening Championship games in his first season as captain, so Lancashire persuaded 49-year-old J.T. (Johnny) Tyldesley to forsake his coaching and second teamduties to lead the side in the Whitsuntide clash against Yorkshire at Old Trafford. Unfortunately, Hornby’s thoughts on this matter are not recorded. Although a professional throughout his great career, Tyldesley, who scored almost 32,000 runs in 507 Lancashire games and played 31 Tests for England, captained the team as an amateur. It was his only appearance of the season. But although sometimes aloof and often harsh, Hornby was fiercely committed to his players. His defence of the suspect bowling actions of Arthur Mold, John Crossland and George Nash