Lives in Cricket No 3 - George Duckworth

intelligent, he must have gathered, from observing the likes of Cecil Parkin, that the professional sportsman eschews the entertainment aspect of his presentation at some hazard. It is an interesting aspect of the Duckworth age that the six Red Rose players to have made most appearances for the county all played in that era. They are Ernest Tyldesley, 573; Jack Sharp, 518, John Tyldesley, who played his last match in 1923; Cyril Washbrook, 500, many of them, of course, after a war which, had it been avoided, would have seen him top of the midden with roughly 650 appearances, and Harry Makepeace, 487. George Duckworth is twelfth in the roster, far and away the leading wicket-keeper, with 424 matches. It was, admittedly, a period when plenty of county fixtures were crammed into the spring and summer months, but that solidity of service gives some notion of the constancy of a very technically gifted and attractive squad. However, it is but part of the saga to speak of the advantage to George Duckworth of playing in an unquestionably fine team. The other side of the cricketing medallion is that George Duckworth made a sublime contribution to the whole. Without such a splendid wicket-keeper, it would have been much lessened in effect. His arrival helped to complete the composition of one of the most competent county elevens there has been. With one or two brisk exceptions, the Lancashire team was not an agile outfit. There were tired veterans and extravagant imbibers in the ranks, and, withal, a common tendency among cricketers then to concentrate with some tenacity on their chosen craft as batsman or bowler, and to regard fielding as an obligatory but slightly suspect additional chore. George Duckworth galvanised fielders into action and ‘mithered’ them into activity. He did so, first, by example and, second, by a quiet word or even a loud one. He covered so much ground that Neville Cardus suggested he was ‘twelfth man’ as well as wicket-keeper, and, like all great keepers, he made mediocre fielders look like more accurate and powerful throwers. In short, he brought to the Lancashire cause a very important, even indispensable, attribute, the equivalent specialism of the formidable goalkeeper in the spine of a top-class football side. In these days of varied competitions there has been a tendency to allow run-getting backstops to displace specialist wicket-keepers. It is a bit like playing your right back in goal at soccer. George The Cricket 29