Lives in Cricket No 4 - Ernie Jones

cannot believe in a ball being fairly bowled at his pace – about the pace of a North-Western express – with a bent elbow. What is curious about the report is its moral tone. It did not put Jones off his game and it is doubtful whether either he or his Australian supporters paid it the slightest heed. The main puzzle comes at the end. Does the critic mean with or without a bent elbow? Other accusations of throwing against bowlers of extreme pace often suggest the bowlers cannot achieve their speed with a straight arm so that in some instances they have undergone tests bowling with their arm in splints. It might be a grammatical slip here, since a throw requires the bent arm to straighten. It might simply mean the critic did not know what he was talking about. Jones went on to enjoy astonishing success with a career-best 8 for 39 (and 11 for 59 for the match) against C.E.de Trafford’s Eleven at Crystal Palace in the next match. The English teamwas thrashed by an innings, mounting only 114 and 39 against 374 by the Australians, yet it was by no means a weak side, and included seven leading Lancashire professionals as well as other first-class players. Yet they had no answer to Jones’ speed and bounce in the first innings, and even less against the deceptive spin and flight of Giffen (7 for 15) in the second. Jones’ reputation as a fast bowler was becoming ensured and he added to it at Sheffield where he and Giffen took nine wickets apiece in another innings victory over Yorkshire. Against Lancashire Jones took six wickets and a further 5 for 47 in the first innings of a powerful Oxford University where Trott was given credit for the management of his attack, ‘having a diversity of talent . . . and making the wisest use of it by not leaving any bowler on too long’. By early June Jones had created such a great impression with his fast bowling that the executive of the Sussex County Club had offered him high terms to remain in England and qualify to play for the county, and it was believed that he would probably accept. When this news was reported in Adelaide the habitués of the members’ pavilion attending a football match at Adelaide Oval were aghast and their view was unanimous: Jones must not be allowed to leave South Australia. For years the colony had been crying out for a bowler to support Giffen, and now that he had appeared, they did not want him filched away by a county who ought to have enough cricketers without poaching in Australian preserves. The outcome was a cable message dispatched to England on 6 June as follows: ‘Jones, Australian Eleven – Should The Great Fast Bowler: 1896-1899 23