Lives in Cricket No 29 - AN Hornby

91 south to join his regiment. The following evening war was declared against Germany, and within 48 hours a number of other players, including Pelham Warner, Middlesex’s captain, and Arthur Carr, Nottinghamshire’s skipper, abandoned their cricket commitments and headed off to war. But A.N. was not captaining Lancashire in this match – Reggie Spooner led the team – and he didn’t play for the county after 1906. Cricinfo got its Hornbys in a twist – the Hornby called away to advise the War Office was Albert Henry, the Lancashire captain. He was unable to play in the Roses match at Old Trafford, which began on 3 August 1914, and had, in fact, already played his last game for Lancashire. A fine horseman just like his father, A.H. was required to advise the War Office on the subject of horses for the cavalry, and served as a Captain in the Remount Services throughout the war. War Horse , the book by Michael Morpurgo, which became a hit on the West End stage and was subsequently filmed by Steven Spielberg, gives some idea of what this would have entailed. Britain declared war on Germany on the second day of the match. In common with most counties Lancashire played their remaining fixtures – three at home and four away – after MCC issued a statement saying that no good purpose could be served by abandoning games. But there was no more Championship cricket played in the country until 1919. Hornby senior was present, along with a number of other greats from the past, when Lancashire resumed Championship duties on Monday 19 May 1919. He was among a small crowd for the opening day against Northamptonshire that welcomed cricket back. Sadly, Lancashire’s opening batsmen, Harold Garnett and Bill Tyldesley, had died in the conflict, while the visitors’ openers, brothers Arthur and Bill Denton, had both been prisoners of war. Lancashire seemed to realise that the crowd, starved of sporting action for so long, wanted to see something special – and they didn’t let the spectators down, scoring 200 in 135 minutes with the Manchester Evening News reporting ‘that the batsmen were living up to the spirit of the new times’. The hand of Hornby?