Lives in Cricket No 39 - Alec Watson

26 Neilson Hornby, then aged 24, and destined to become one of the luminaries of the game in England. Hornby was so impressed that he invited Watson to become a member of the Lancashire groundstaff at Old Trafford; and there he remained for 23 seasons, being also professional to the Manchester Club at Old Trafford from 1872 to 1875. Bearshaw notes that Watson and Hornby became lifelong friends; though he also notes that, according to legend, Alec appears to have been less than welcome to the then ground manager at Old Trafford, Fred Reynolds, who wanted ‘no Scotsmen here’. Since being on Lancashire’s groundstaff would perhaps have meant at that time only up to thirty days of county cricket per season, an appointment with Manchester CC would have helped to fill in the gaps and boost Watson’s income; any other outings for other clubs or individually raised sides would also be grist to his mill. Professionals might only earn up to about £50 for a season’s cricket activities, so any extra would be welcome, particularly with a wife and growing family to look after. Not that Lancashire’s finances at that time would have been much better. Lord Harris in A Few Short Runs (p76) noted that the first time he played for Kent at Old Trafford, in 1871, he supposed that ‘the Lancashire Club did not take £50 in the three days, whilst ten years or so after the “gate” ran into hundreds of pounds.’ So inter- county cricket was becoming popular. The feats of W.G.Grace from the 1860s built up the popularity of cricket, begun by the ‘travelling’ professional elevens. Though these were going into decline, their place was filled in the 1860s by some recently formed county clubs such as Yorkshire (1863), Lancashire (1864) and Gloucestershire (1871). A league or championship for the counties would have stimulated interest further, and in 1873 the above- mentioned counties met to formulate playing qualifications for inter-county matches. However they did not formally constitute a championship with a set number of counties, nor a scoring system, so counties made fixtures as and when they saw fit, and decisions on ‘champions’ were left largely to the press. First-Class Cricketer