Lives in Cricket No 45 - Brief Candles 2

5 Preface The first volume of Brief Candles in this series looked at the lives, in and out of cricket, of a number of cricketers who played just a single first-class match, in which for the most part they either performed with particular distinction, or else were prevented by circumstances from demonstrating what they might have been able to do; at which point they disappeared from the first-class game altogether. This second volume looks in the same way at a further batch of players who flickered only briefly on the first-class scene. Most of them earn their inclusion here because of an unusual achievement that they recorded, or an unusual event that happened to them, during their brief first-class careers . Perhaps they didn’t all achieve quite the same distinction - or lack of it - as some in the earlier book, but nevertheless, to my eyes they all deserve to be better remembered for their unusual (quirky?) or unlikely contributions to the history and statistics of the game. And let us never forget that selection for, and participation in, a first-class game is a major, hugely creditable, achievement in itself. Brief Candles 2 follows the same approach as before, with the cricketers under the spotlight being grouped into separate chapters in accordance with the type of achievement or event that brings them to notice. I have again tried wherever possible to explore the players’ personal backgrounds as well as the cricketing backgrounds that took them on to a first-class field, and the circumstances that meant they never returned after their brief flirtation with cricket at that level. Also as before, despite diligent searches it has not always been possible to trace full details of the lives of some of the players concerned, and so there are inevitably gaps in their biographies. But that is inherent in the exercise of researching individuals who for the most part - and with the greatest respect - made little lasting impact on the cricketing world, or in the wider world beyond. The players considered in the first volume of Candles were all British. Thanks to the willing co-operation of some cricketers and others from other countries, and thanks too to the increasing availability online of newspapers from (in particular) Australia and New Zealand, it has been possible this time to include the stories of a number of players from outside Britain. I hope that makes this book feel a little more ‘inclusive’ than its predecessor. The players covered in Brief Candles 2 range from one who flourished on the cricket field in the 1870s to one who flourished in the 1990s. In finding out more about them, either through contact with the players themselves or (where this has been possible) with their descendants, I have