Lives in Cricket No 8 - Ernest Hayes

and Schofield Haigh. Hayes played his part in what was a satisfactory benefit match for his friend, Walter Lees: No one gave a better exhibition of clever, forceful batting than Ernest Hayes. It was a great pleasure to see this batsman in form. It is worth anybody’s money to see him when he gets going. His hitting is so clean, so incisive, so inspiriting [ sic ]. He never half hits a ball. He has the virtue of knowing what he has to do, and he has the ability to do it. Smashing cuts, full-shouldered drives, and clever leg placing, alternated in quick succession. His 53 was a delightful display. Perhaps the outstanding performance of the season, however, was his batting at Hove. It had been a low-scoring match and Hayes’ 97 had been by some distance the highest score of the first three innings. Surrey had been left a none-too-easy target of 198 to win and Hobbs had gone early. Hayes’ 105 not out in the second innings ensured a nine-wicket victory. Interestingly at this stage, Hayes was the dominant partner in the Hayes-Hobbs relationship. One reporter notes, ‘Hobbs, in a subdued key, acted as a good foil to Hayes. He was twice as long as Hayes over his runs.’ Hobbs was of course at this stage in only the second season of a long and very distinguished career. Hayes was in his eleventh English first-class season, possibly at his peak; but it is nevertheless something of an enigma that Hobbs went on to dominate the game while the story of Hayes, at international level at any rate, remains one of unfulfilled potential. Hayes finished the season with impressive innings in the Scarborough Festival – 84 for the South against the North and 122 for the Players (his highest in the twelve Gentlemen v Players matches in which he played) and had MCC decided to send a team to Australia that winter, the name of Ernest Hayes would almost certainly have been on the list. The inevitable decision not to send a team to Australia next month is unfortunate for Hayes. Known to be a useful player in all three departments of the game for several seasons, Hayes has worked his way now to a certain position in England’s Test match team. His work bears the hallmark of class whether he is batting, bowling or fielding, and he is a regular M.R.Jardine 9 in the field, backing up in the most unexpected places, doing the 58 Under New Management, Test Cricket, and a Purple Passage 9 The father of D.R.Jardine.