Lives in Cricket No 8 - Ernest Hayes

throughout the match with figures of 21-10-28-5 and 16.4-4-29-8, as South Africa failed to reach three figures in either innings. Hayes played little cricket after that, illness being followed by injury. He did, however, turn out for a combined Surrey and Middlesex side against the Australians. He writes: ‘This proved to be my last big match for Surrey for during the match I fell and strained my wrist badly and was unable to handle a bat properly for the remainder of the season, altho’ as there were only 11 players at Hastings for the South of England v Australians I played and went in No.8, one handed.’ Again, Hayes was instrumental in a county side playing against Honor Oak at Colyton Road. Hobbs top-scored in a tight draw. 1913 This was an unexceptional year, summarised by Hayes as follows: ‘Although this was a good dry season I did not come up to my previous years form but could not grumble as I scored 1,300 odd runs & took 30 odd wickets.’ All his matches were for Surrey and he played in no representative matches. For Hayes’ colleague, Tom Hayward, however, the year was not unexceptional. He recorded his hundredth century, joining W.G.Grace as, at that stage, the second entry on that particular page of the record book. Led by M.C.Bird, in his third season as captain, Surrey finished third in the Championship: Hayes had now, though, to compare himself with Hobbs, who scored 2,238 runs at 52.04 in county matches. The third of the four Hayes scrapbooks concludes with some notes on his philosophy of the game and a plea for what was later in the century called ‘brighter cricket’ in the way of aggressive batting, attacking bowling and improved fielding. Also required are better spectator facilities; and he mentions the importance as a public relations exercise –although it was not, of course, referred to in those terms – of the work of now deceased ‘Surrey poet’, Albert Craig. 1914 For Surrey it was a good year, but the events of August put cricket into perspective. Hayes writes laconically: ‘War with Germany The Golden Age Ends on the Western Front 79