Lives in Cricket No 29 - AN Hornby

102 most of his life to his sporting endeavours – and to Lancashire cricket in particular. But one must never forget how much time and effort he did expend in the cause of Lancashire cricket. That he never replicated his county form for England is a big disappointment and there were some Australian pundits who felt he wasn’t good enough to represent his country in any case. His England failures must have hurt Hornby deeply. One by- product was that the defeat at The Oval, over which he presided in 1882, begat the Ashes. For that he will, somewhat unfairly in my opinion, always be remembered. But it didn’t damage Hornby’s cricketing career as a whole. He gave so much more to the game of cricket in five decades of unpaid endeavour. For that alone, cricket-lovers, especially those who have Lancashire’s interests at heart, owe Hornby an enormous debt of gratitude. What are we to make of him?