Lives in Cricket No 29 - AN Hornby

39 The Hornby-Barlow partnership begins ground and hurled them around. At the height of the melee, Hornby, who was not yet captain of the side, attempted single-handedly to restore some semblance of order. Galloping into the crowd as if pursuing a well-struck shot on its way to the boundary, Hornby grasped ‘one of the most violent agitators’ before handing his captive over to a policeman. According to contemporary reports, Hornby administered his own instant justice, giving the man ‘a number of hard knocks’ before placing him in the arms of the law. As if the crowd trouble wasn’t enough, there was also an episode reminiscent of the Sammy Jones incident in the original Ashes Test and the Ian Bell affair at Trent Bridge in the 2011 England- India series. The Lancashire amateur W.S.Patterson drove a ball to the boundary but the unsighted umpire did not signal four and a Gloucestershire player ran Patterson out. E.M.Grace went to the crowd and satisfied himself that the ball had carried, so Patterson was reinstated. Those spectators who did pay realised gate receipts of £750, which was a tidy sum in those days. Measured against the Retail Price Index (admittedly not always the best and most reliable indicator) it would equate to a remarkable £56,000 today. What would county treasurers give for that sort of figure for three days of Championship cricket nowadays? Unfortunately, the unruly spectators rather shot themselves in the foot when, soon after the game, Lancashire announced they were doubling the price of admission to one shilling. In 1876, Wisden , reporting on Lancashire’s match against Nottinghamshire at Nottingham, had this to say about the visitors’ openers: ‘Lancashire batting in 1876 resulted in Mr Hornby being well ahead of the others in the three important average columns, he and Barlow scoring more runs than any other seven men. Both played up to their well-known form of brilliant hitting and rapid scoring by one and stolid defence and slow scoring by the other; and perhaps their distinctively peculiar forms were never more aptly illustrated than when in Lancashire’s first innings against Nottinghamshire at Nottingham the first wicket (Mr Hornby’s) fell with the score as follows: Mr A N Hornby c Selby b Oscroft………………44 Barlow not out……………………………………….0 B 1 (1 wkt) 45