Lives in Cricket No 29 - AN Hornby

81 The Crossland and Mold throwing controversies In the end neither Lord Harris nor Crossland played and perhaps Hornby, usually more confrontational than conciliatory, was being diplomatic for once in his career. Crossland was barracked in the remaining games he played and police reinforcements were brought in at The Oval although in the end Crossland didn’t play because of an arm injury. But Lancashire in general and Hornby in particular continued to support their player. The fixture list saw to it that Crossland and Lord Harris would cross swords again in the opening match of the 1885 season at Old Trafford and despite his very public pronouncements Lord Harris was given a great ovation when he walked out to bat on the first day. Crossland was the bowler and his lordship played his first two balls with ease. The third delivery, however, spread- eagled his stumps and, unsurprisingly, the home crowd couldn’t conceal its pleasure. The Manchester Guardian reported: ‘People seemed fairly beside themselves with delight. Hats and coats were thrown up and one enthusiast actually waved his coat from the top of one of the stands.’ Two days after the match, Lord Harris dispatched another letter to the Lancashire committee on the subject of ‘unfair bowling’. And for the first time Lord Harris named names, asserting that Crossland ‘was bowling as unfairly as ever’. In an extremely lengthy missive, Lord Harris eventually came to the point, which was that the return fixture, scheduled for Tonbridge in August, would be cancelled and Lancashire would be awarded the match ‘by default’. Swire replied that the actions of neither Crossland nor Nash had been questioned by ‘any of the most competent umpires in the country’. He added that the committee had full confidence in their captain, A.N.Hornby. Swire told Lord Harris that a copy of the correspondence had been forwarded to the MCC committee, but the Lancashire secretary could have saved himself a lot of trouble – and ink – for Crossland had already played his last game for the county. It was against Cheshire in a non-Championship fixture at Cale Park, Stockport on June 26 and 27, where he signed off with figures of two for 19 and three for 38. In fact, on the same day Swire was penning his letter, the MCC