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BEST end to a TEST career

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
The legendary S F Barnes, in his last ever test series made a record that stands till today. The figures of his achievement are staggering to put it very mildly.

Barnes played only the first four Tests of the series. England won three of them. Barnes figures, well known to most cricket buffs are still worth repeating

  • Tests : 4
  • Wkts : 49
  • Avg : 10.94
  • St Rt : 27.7
  • Eco. : 2.37
  • 5 fors : 7 . . . in just 4 Tests !!!
  • 10 fors : 2 . . . in just 4 Tests !!!

If he had played the last Test, it is impossible to imagine the record would ever have been broken. As it is, with about 13 months left for the centenary of the end of this amazing bowler's career, the record still stands.

There is a tendency to run down Barnes' figures by talking of the opposition and the conditions. While it is clear that of the three countries playing Test cricket by then, South Africa were the weakest. However, there is more to it.. . .

South Africa were coming out of their minnow status in the new century. Having lost four straight series (eight straight Test matches) to England in the 12 years of the end of the 19th century, all at home, they had begun to get back at the 'mother country' in the first decade of the 20th.

In 1905-06 they trounced England 4-1 at home.
Granted a tour of England in 1907, as a reward, they performed very creditably, drawing the Tests at the Lord's and The Oval and lost by 53 runs at Headingley in a low scoring game. England had played their full strength side (barring Barnes who they continued to treat shabbily) with a side that reads the who's who of the English stars of the day.
  1. CB Fry
  2. Tom Hayward
  3. Johnny Tyldesley
  4. Reggie Foster
  5. Les Braund
  6. George Hirst
  7. Gilbert Jessop
  8. Crawford
  9. Arnold
  10. Dick Lilley
  11. Colin Blythe
  12. Knox
The fact that they played just 12 players in the three Tests showed they took the Proteas seriously after their big series loss of the previous tour to SAfrica.

In 1909-10 England toured South Africa again and again the lost the series, this time by three games to two. The English side had included Jack Hobbs, Frank Woolley, Wilfred Rhodes, Simpson-Hayward, Colin Blythe . . . and no Barnes !

England had now won only one of the last three series and just 3 of the 13 Tests. This has to be remembered when we talk of the 1913-14 series.

Another factor that needs to be remembered is how the other England bowlers' fared in that last series of Barnes. Here are the figures of Barnes against those of rest of England for the four Tests in which he played . . .

Code:
[B]Player        	 O	 M	 R	 W	 5w	 10w	 Best	 Avg	 S/R	 E/R[/B]
										
S F Barnes	226	56	536	49	7	3	 9/103	10.9	27.7	2.4
										
Rest of England	371.1	83	953	30	1	0	 5/89	31.8	74.2	2.6
The Rest of England included Rhodes, Woolley, Douglas, Hearne, Bird and Relf

It is interesting to see that there isn't such a great difference between the economy rates of Barnes (2.4) and the Rest (2.6). They were good bowlers and were able to keep the South Africans on a tight enough leash. They just couldn't take wickets the way Barnes did. Hence the strike difference of 27.7 against 74.2.

And remember the man was forty years old.

Coming back to Barnes' farewell to Tests, who is to say when he should have retired. The guy just kept getting better with age inspite of England treating him like a pariah and selecting him very reluctantly to start with claiming Test matches were completely different from the leagues he was used to playing in and then when he astounded the world, not least the Aussies on who he was let loose, they used every pretext, mostly related to his personality and how difficult he was to handle, to keep him out of the side and yet this is what he did. In his last 10 Tests he took 88 Test wickets at 10.7 each.

Of course, it has a lot to do with the fact that eight of these games were against South Africa who were completely clueless against him. Australians were obviously far better. Yet, seen in the context of the rest of England's bowlers who is to say whether he needs to have retired, or rather never played again for, he never announced his retirement.

Another interesting aspect of Barnes' bowling has to do with how he fared at the beginning of a Test as against in the latter parts. There is a general perception that with uncovered pitches the latter part of the matches used to be a delight for bowlers. Well . . . not true for Barnes. His figures for the four innings make very interesting reading. Have a look.

Code:
[B]Inn #	 O	 M	 R	 W	 5w	 Best	 Avg	 S/R[/B]

First	417.2	122	946	77	11	 8/56	12.3	32.5
Second	179.1	49	398	23	3	 6/52	17.3	46.7
Third	583.2	152	1410	74	9	 9/103	19.1	47.3
Fourth	132.2	33	352	15	1	 5/102	23.5	52.9

[B]Overall	1312.1	356	3106	189	24	 9/103	16.4	41.7[/B]
It is interesting to see that the performances in the first and third innings are far better. He also bowls much more overs (in both innings) when England field first. This is very strange. Anyone with a theory on this ?? :o)
 

Coronis

Cricketer Of The Year
Its too bad he only played those 27 tests. Wasn't chosen multiple times when he should've been, probably would've even been good enough after the war. 14/144 in his final test, wow.
 
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Teja.

Global Moderator
Clarrie Grimmett took 33 wickets in his last three Tests, 13 in the final one.

Though they should never actually have been his last three Tests.
Indeed.

Bradman should never be forgiven for denying us the peak of arguably the most talented spinner of them all. Be like Ponting telling Warne to **** off from the Australian side in 2002-03.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Its too bad he only played those 27 tests. Wasn't chosen multiple times when he should've been, probably would've even been good enough after the war. 14/144 in his final test, wow.
He appears to have been extremely unpopular, particularly with the amateurs who were captains and the general expectation that the professionals were to behave like the menial servants they were treated like. Barnes was very proud of his craft and must have appeared as extremely arrogant to the establishment unused to such attitude by those who were generally expected to submit themselves to the 'lording' over them by amateurs not fit to carry their boots if one looked at sheer competence as cricketers.

There is the famous instance of when Barnes was bowling in a charity match to the famous West Indian Sir Learie Constantine, known for his belligerent batting. Barnes, now in his fifties, excercised a vice like grip over Constantine which irked his captain Cec Parkin who wanted the crowd to be entertained by some luscious hitting by the famous West Indian. "Chuck 'em up to him, Sid" he said. "Let the crowd see him crack one or two."

Barnes threw the ball down, collected his sweater and refused to finish the over or bowl again in the match. As he put on his sweater, he turned to his skipper and said, "I have a reputation as well as Constantine."

He was right of course and in the modern time, we would have celebrated his guts to stand up to authority but in that time and age they despised him for nothing but demanding the self respect he knew he deserved.

When he was on the ship going to Australia, handpicked by Lancashire skipper MacLaren who was leading the English side, the vessel ran into terrible weather within just a few days of the voyage. The players, most of whom had seen nothing further than the grounds they played on, were scared stiff and worried that they would all go down to the bottom of the ocean. MacLaren famously said, "If we do go down, at least that bugger Barnes will go down with us,"

Constantine played him in the tour game of the West Indians against Staffordshire in 1928, Barnes was well into his fifties and it was 14 years after his last Test series we are talking about. Constantine writes . . .

Barnes was bowling. He was over fifty then, but I thought him the greatest bowler I met during that English visit (remember he played Harold Larwood among others on that tour) He had every sort in the bag and could take a wicket with any of them.​

He next metions Barnes in the context of the season of 1937 . . .

What was my greatest game for Nelson? Its not easy to say, but I think I liked best a personal duel I had with Barnes, one of the finest players of all time.

As far back as 1895, eight years before I was even born, Barnes was playing for Rishton as a professional. He went from league cricket to playing for England in Australia and did magnificently. When I first saw Barnes , during my initial tour of England, I learned by watching him just how to set a field, measure a run and trick a steady batsman. He had broken innumerable cricket records and will always be remembered as one of the great personalities of the game.

In 1930, he was playing for Rawtenstall. We won the toss but Barnes began to go through our wickets as he well knew how. I was told to save the situation and went out to the wicket to find him absolutely at his best. The wicket had just enough moisture to take the spin well, and could he spin them !

We were 68 for 3 when I went in and Barnes skittled them out till we had 118 for 9, my score being 45 not out. I had to knock them about and be quick about it !

I shall never forget the length, spin and guile Barnes produced to stop me from getting the bowling, to get either me or the partner out. I went for Barnes and hit him; and he went for me., attack versus attack, like rapiers crossing, then I was caught and bowled by the master off about the best ball of the innings. For that was typical of Barnes - the more you hit him the better he bowled !
 
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fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Its too bad he only played those 27 tests. Wasn't chosen multiple times when he should've been, probably would've even been good enough after the war. 14/144 in his final test, wow.
He was asked to go to Australia in 20/21 but the MCC wouldn't let him take Mrs Barnes so he declined
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
For batsmen there are many tempting examples.

1. Andrew Sandham

In ten Tests between 1921 and 1925, Sandham had managed just one fifty and a Test average of 19.1. He would have never expected to play another Test for England when he got a call for the 1930 maiden tour of West Indies. Sandham was in his 40th year.

This, however, did not make him the oldest player in a team from the graveyard . . . well quite a few of them were closer to that age than to being debutants.

George Gunn was in his 51st year and had last played in a Test match in 1912 - 18 years ago ! He was surely more surprised than Andrew.

Patsy Hendren was a youngster, I guess, at 42

The oldest was left arm spinner and all rounder Wilfred Rhodes in his 53rd year still playing for England 31 years after his debut in 1899 !!

Nigel Haig was ten years younger than Rhodes at 42 but was going to open the bowling attack !!

Bill Astill, the off spinner, was 42.

Fred Calthrope was a young debutant at 38 !!

Jack O'Connor was an absolute infant playing just his second game at 33.

NO, Andy Sandham shouldn't have been surprised. What he did, after the ten Tests for a solitary century was surprising, nevertheless.

  • In the first Test at the Kensington Oval Sandham scored 152 and 51. Nearly doubling the runs he had made in his entire ten Test career till then.
  • In the 4th Test at Sabina Park he scored 325 and 50. Making a total of 528 in just these two games - he had managed just 287 in his first ten !
  • The fact that he did not reach double figures in any of the four innings of the second and third Test makes no difference to the fact that he aggregated 592 runs in the series at 74.0 which, by the way, was Andy's last.
  • Sachin in his 72 Test series has managed a best of 493. :o)
  • Of course there is the minor matter of the triple century he scored in the first innings of his last Test. This, at that time, was the highest EVER Test innings !
  • Sachin, after 194 Tests and 320 innings is yet to score a 250 !

BTW, the comparison with SRT is not to run the great man down but just to put Sandham's performance in that amazing series, 72 years ago, in perspective and give them a bit of statistical context.

How can you do better than scoring over 500 runs in your last series and also make the highest ever Test score in your last game.

By the way, the 375 runs, Sandham scored in that last Test was also the highest match aggregate of all time and remained a record for 44 years till Greg Chappell broke it by 5 runs in 1974 !!

We need to look long and hard to find a better end to a test career but we will be back :o))
 
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SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Indeed.

Bradman should never be forgiven for denying us the peak of arguably the most talented spinner of them all. Be like Ponting telling Warne to **** off from the Australian side in 2002-03.
Grimmett was a bit like Barnes in one respect. He was very conscious of his own self respect and refused to kow-tow to those in authority. Like Barnes, this never meant that he was rude or a difficult person but he just wanted to be respected as an equal by everyone even if they happened to have the initials DGB. Bradman was a bit of a boss and wanted everyone to be aware of that. It is ironic that the player Bradman used to run down Grimmett (in a way), the great Bill O'Reilly, also happened to have a similar attitude towards authority so that while Grimmett's feelings towards Bradman are not publicly known, O'Reilly's are and he is one of Bradman's fiercest critics, not least for the way the Don treated Grimmett.
 

Coronis

Cricketer Of The Year
Grimmett was a bit like Barnes in one respect. He was very conscious of his own self respect and refused to kow-tow to those in authority. Like Barnes, this never meant that he was rude or a difficult person but he just wanted to be respected as an equal by everyone even if they happened to have the initials DGB. Bradman was a bit of a boss and wanted everyone to be aware of that. It is ironic that the player Bradman used to run down Grimmett (in a way), the great Bill O'Reilly, also happened to have a similar attitude towards authority so that while Grimmett's feelings towards Bradman are not publicly known, O'Reilly's are and he is one of Bradman's fiercest critics, not least for the way the Don treated Grimmett.
O'Reilly considered Grimmett the best bowler he'd seen IIRC. Interesting how despite that, and the opinions of many others, and when Clarrie was in the form of his life, he was dropped from the side.
 

slowfinger

International Debutant
For batsmen there are many tempting examples.

1. Andrew Sandham

In ten Tests between 1921 and 1925, Sandham had managed just one fifty and a Test average of 19.1. He would have never expected to play another Test for England when he got a call for the 1930 maiden tour of West Indies. Sandham was in his 40th year.

This, however, did not make him the oldest player in a team from the graveyard . . . well quite a few of them were closer to that age than to being debutants.

George Gunn was in his 51st year and had last played in a Test match in 1912 - 18 years ago ! He was surely more surprised than Andrew.

Patsy Hendren was a youngster, I guess, at 42

The oldest was left arm spinner and all rounder Wilfred Rhodes in his 53rd year still playing for England 31 years after his debut in 1899 !!

Nigel Haig was ten years younger than Rhodes at 42 but was going to open the bowling attack !!

Bill Astill, the off spinner, was 42.

Fred Calthrope was a young debutant at 38 !!

Jack O'Connor was an absolute infant playing just his second game at 33.

NO, Andy Sandham shouldn't have been surprised. What he did, after the ten Tests for a solitary century was surprising, nevertheless.

  • In the first Test at the Kensington Oval Sandham scored 152 and 51. Nearly doubling the runs he had made in his entire ten Test career till then.
  • In the 4th Test at Sabina Park he scored 325 and 50. Making a total of 528 in just these two games - he had managed just 287 in his first ten !
  • The fact that he did not reach double figures in any of the four innings of the second and third Test makes no difference to the fact that he aggregated 592 runs in the series at 74.0 which, by the way, was Andy's last.
  • Sachin in his 72 Test series has managed a best of 493. :o)
  • Of course there is the minor matter of the triple century he scored in the first innings of his last Test. This, at that time, was the highest EVER Test innings !
  • Sachin, after 194 Tests and 320 innings is yet to score a 250 !

BTW, the comparison with SRT is not to run the great man down but just to put Sandham's performance in that amazing series, 72 years ago, in perspective and give them a bit of statistical context.

How can you do better than scoring over 500 runs in your last series and also make the highest ever Test score in your last game.

By the way, the 375 runs, Sandham scored in that last Test was also the highest match aggregate of all time and remained a record for 44 years till Greg Chappell broke it by 5 runs in 1974 !!

We need to look long and hard to find a better end to a test career but we will be back :o))
A bit of an unintensional end to his career, he would be annoyed rather than happy!! Not how he wanted to end his career!
 

archie mac

International Coach
Greg Chappell needing 68 runs to go past Bradman in his final innings, got there with ease making 180 odd which gave him a ton in his first test, first test as captain and last test.:happy: Also set the then record for catches taken in tests by grabbing a few.
Andy Sandham
Ponsford and Woodfull last Test 1934. The former for batting and the latter for winning back the Ashes. Atlhugh I can't remember if he won it on his birthday or was that 1930?:unsure:
 

Coronis

Cricketer Of The Year
Ponsford and Woodfull last Test 1934. The former for batting and the latter for winning back the Ashes. Atlhugh I can't remember if he won it on his birthday or was that 1930?:unsure:
Yep that was 1934. Ponsford massive double century in that last test, great farewell for two Victorian greats.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
A bit of an unintensional end to his career, he would be annoyed rather than happy!! Not how he wanted to end his career!
Agree with that.

There was another England cricketer on that West Indies trip who had been similarly brought back from the cold from nowhere and showed brief glimpses of what he was capable of at the ripe old age of 51 - George Gunn

George Gunn, however, was considered an awesome batsman even in his younger days. Most observers and writers have waxed lyrical about his batting. Yet he had played in only two away Ashes series (1907-8 and 1911-12) plus a solitary match at home in 1909. While he had scored nothing in the 1909 game he had done well enough in both the others to merit further selection by England.
  • 462 runs at 51.3 (two centuries and two fifties) in the first
  • 381 runs at 42.3 (four fifties) in the second.

The batsman who, in my opinion had the best planned retirement from the game has to be Don Bradman. But for the failure to get off the blocks in that famous last innings, the great man had done it with the perfection he had maintained from the very start of his career. A century in his first and his last test innings are the only things missing in Don's unbelievable stats. To look at Bradman's end to his Test career, one must not just look at that last series in 1948 but all that happened in the time after the war ended . . .

Brightly Fades the Don

Just consider the facts . . .

The Background

When WW II disrupted Test cricket and everything else in humankind's universe, the little boy from Bowral was a young man just under 31 (30 at the time of his last Test match before the war) widely considered the peak of a batsman's physical condition and onfield prowess. He had the figures to support that.

Code:
[B]Series        	 M	 Inns	 NO	 50s	 100s		 HS	 Runs	 Avg[/B]

Before WW II	37	57	5	8	21	29	334	5093	97.9
Of course, no one knew in the summer of 1939 that the war with Germany would last six years but when it did end. The boy young man from Bowral was close to being termed middle aged by ordinary people's reckoning and old in sporting terms at over 38 when cricket resumed for Australia in November 1946.

His health was far from good as was discovered quite by chance when, in an army camp for the war. He started "to experience muscular trouble which had bothered me off and on before" and then "an eye specialist, hearing I was there sought leave to test my eyes. He was engaged in special research and so on for pilots and thought I should be an ideal candidate for testing."

The tests, however revealed ailment of completely different character. Bradman played in two first class games in that 38-39 season and found that he "just couldn't see the ball at all."

He was hospitalised with fibrositis and a "long convalescence and complete rest" was prescribed. It put paid to his ambition to join the airforce but that was not the only problem. The excruciating pain in his muscles was utterly immobilising

"At one period I found myself quite incapable of even lifting my right arm. It was impossible to even do my own hair. I lost all feeling in my thumb and index finger of my right hand. It never returned - even when I again played Test cricket."

His wife had to shave him.

When the war ended he had further disaster on personal front. The firm he had been working for before the war went bankrupt and he was unemployed at the worst time (post war recovery) for most people anyway. He decided he had no option but to go in for some sort of "own business" but he "wasn't really fit for carrying n the strain of the next few months.

Ever so slowly it seemed another summer came around.

I had no thoughts of playing cricket, though some thoughts of witnessing some inter-state matches offered some hope of passing a pleasant hour."​

Bradman played a game against Queensland (68 and 52 not out) and another against the services (112) but he considers he his two innings agains QLD "somewhat painstaking in nature" and that the hundred against Services did not "record the reflex nature of my strokes". So when the Australian Board decided to send a team to New Zealand at the end of the 1946 season, he declined.

"Just as well that I did. . . . I suffered a recurrence of fibositis in its most severe form and all hopes of ever taking the field again seemed to vanish. Treatment brought temporary relief only."

He then visited Ern. Saunders, a specialist with athletic injuries and that brought considerable relief which brought the hope that he "might be fit to play against England the following summer."
"At this time the only thought was whether I could do justice to the Australian team for one season, and not for a moment did I contemplate the future beyond."

Just before the English team was to arrive, Bradman's condition worsened and he had to undergo an operation The public and press wanted an answer to whether he would be playing and resented his "refusal to satisfy their query"

The truth was I couldn't. It was impossible. He was advised not to play for SA against the visitors and beyond that to seek specialist opinion. When that was sought, the verdict was that his health was not robust enough and that he "should give up any idea of playing in the Tests." He still wanted to play and asked . . .

Will I be risking permanent injury to my health if I try?

The reply was "No - subject to the reservation that I d not over-exert myself. Furthermore . . . I could not hope to attain more than a fraction of my former standard of play."

He had to decide. He decided to play. Foregoing the big press contract he had been offered to cover the series as a journalist. He also decided to ignore the doctor's advise to avoid playing in the preliminary games. He wanted to see how he fared so as to decide whether or not he should play for an Australian side.

. . . and then in the last week of September 1946, the english side landed in Australia . . .

(to be continued)
 

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