Lives in Cricket No 45 - Brief Candles 2

60 Number 11 So he was left out of Wellington’s side for their two remaining Plunket Shield games of the 1927/28 season; and was never called upon again. His career at club level had started in midweek cricket with the Artlllery club in the early 1920s, but he joined the Hutt club - Wellington’s reigning club champions - for the 1923/24 season. He was immediately being talked of as a player worthy of consideration for Wellington; his pace, his yorker, and his capacity to bowl long spells without tiring being particularly singled out. He continued to be close to selection for the Wellington side in subsequent seasons, being described in NZ Truth - always a strong advocate of his selection for the provincial side - in November 1925 as “[having] been the best fast bowler in Wellington for some three seasons past”. A score of 49 for Hutt against the Wellington club in February 1926 showed him “in quite a new role, and [he] hit with great power”, but batting was not really his forte. In 1926/27 he took 46 wickets for Hutt at 9.78 runs apiece, and only just beat this tally with the bat, with 52 runs at 8.66. As club captain in 1927/28 he only managed 35 wickets, but improved to 111 runs (though with a highest score of only 24 not out). Then it was back to bowling, the highlight being his innings figures of eight for 37 including a hat-trick (and six batsmen bowled) for Hutt v Petone in January 1929 - he also took four wickets in Petone’s second innings. The 1928/29 season brought him 36 wickets and only 65 runs. Injury prevented him playing any cricket in 1929/30, but with 39 wickets in 1930/31 (including eight for 73 v Kilbirnie) he seemed to be back to his best, even if his paced had dropped a little. But that was his swansong, and he left senior club cricket at the end of that season. After a career in the civil service, Beard died in Palmerston North in March 1978, a month before his 83rd birthday. Although the New Zealand Almanack nowadays prints obituaries of all provincial first-class cricketers, Beard’s death passed it by.