Lives in Cricket No 45 - Brief Candles 2

82 Tragedy the scorecard of the match provides a surprise by showing him not as the Colts’ wicket-keeper, but as one of their leading bowlers, taking three wickets in each Manchester innings. There is nothing in the scorecard to corroborate the Gazette ’s claim that he was selected to keep wicket in this game, but his achievements with the ball certainly indicate that they were right to state that he was ‘one of the successes of the Colts team’. He was not, however, selected for the match between the ‘full’ Lancashire Colts side (players as well as gentlemen) and Manchester that followed five days later, nor for the same fixture in 1876. But in May 1877 he was selected in the (full) Colts side against Manchester. With scores of 13 and 12, he was one of only two of the 16 Colts players to make double-figures in both their innings, and this time he does not appear in the line-up of wicket-takers. In view of what happened next, it is reasonable, I think, to assume that he was the Colts’ wicket-keeper in this match; and if so, no doubt the fact the he conceded only a single bye in Manchester’s innings of 163 would have been much to his credit. For what did happen next was his selection for the full Lancashire side to play MCC at Lord’s in a first-class match beginning on 7 June, and in the following game against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge four days later. At the start of the 1877 season, Lancashire did not have an established wicket-keeper. 60 No doubt it was with his performance in the recent Colts match in mind that the selectors decided to give Boys the chance to lay a claim to the position in the county side. To say that it was a chance that he took with both hands would, sadly, be the most ironic of mis-statements. Opening the bowling for Lancashire was the genuinely quick pairing of Bill McIntyre and Alec Watson, and within 20 minutes Boys’ inexperience at handling their pace - or perhaps just his unfamiliarity with the quirks of the Lord’s pitches, or perhaps just plain bad luck - led to him suffering a finger injury from a ball from McIntyre. The injury was bad enough for him to be unable to keep wicket for the rest of the match (though he did take two catches in the field, one in each MCC innings), and it also meant that he had to give up the match at Nottingham. He was never picked for a first-class game again. The arrival of Dick Pilling at Old Trafford in August meant that there was no longer any uncertainty over the selection of Lancashire’s wicketkeeper, and Boys’ chance had come and gone. His injury didn’t keep him out of the Burnley side for long, though. He was back playing for them (and scoring 65, opening the batting) nine days after the Lord’s match, though we don’t know for certain that he resumed wicketkeeping duties before mid-July. And so on and on to the end of the 1895 season. By then, Boys was not just a regular player for the Burnley side; he had been captain since the 60 In their first seven matches of 1877 they actually used five keepers, with only the amateur Edward Jackson keeping wicket throughout more than one match.