Lives in Cricket No 29 - AN Hornby

58 for a meagre 26 and Australia ran out comfortable and deserved winners. Hornby was in much better form in the game against Southern Tasmania, making 61 not out in a match the tourists won by six wickets. Played at the picturesque Lower Domain Ground in Hobart – flanked on one side by Mount Wellington and on another by the River Derwent – the game, which started on 9 January, was played in beautiful, sunny conditions. Although Lord Harris’s side won easily they might have finished off the hosts even quicker had they not had to attend a ball at Hobart Town Assembly Hall on the evening of the first day, which necessitated the day’s play being cut short. There was another ball on the second evening, this time at Government House, with Royle reporting that almost all the tourists attended. ‘The Disturbance’ The visitors lost to New South Wales in Sydney on 24-28 January with Hornby having a fairly undistinguished game with bat and ball. The ground was known then as Moore Park or the Association Ground and later became world famous as the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). But in the second match against NSW, starting on 7 February Hornby seems to have tamed, temporarily at least, his bête noire, Spofforth. Hornby top-scored with 67 before being bowled by ‘The Demon’, although it didn’t stop Spofforth from taking five for 93. Hornby and Bunny Lucas made the first ever century partnership in Australia, putting on 125 before Spofforth bowled Lucas for 51. It was the only time in the match that Hornby batted as the tourists’ 267 proved well beyond the home side who could only muster 177 and 49, subsiding, rather tamely, to defeat by an innings and 41 runs. Chiefly responsible for the victory was Yorkshire left-armer Emmett, who returned figures of eight for 47 and four for 13 for a match analysis of twelve for 60, one of the 29 occasions he captured ten or more wickets in a game in a career in which he finished with 1,572 first-class wickets. He began with a fast round- arm action, but as the years took their toll, he changed his style completely and ended up as a medium-pacer, using flight, spin and change of pace to great effect. George Ulyett played his part, too, taking four in four balls as part Voyage of discovery 2