Malcolm Marshall vs Sydney Barnes

[kyear2]

I had the same thought - not sure if people were talking about different footage, but there's surely no way the film shared in this thread was a) showing Barnes in his 80s, or b) film from the 1950s.

Exactly this.

At worst that film was in his early years when he was still supposed bowling "fast medium" and out performing who ever it was.

I'm not convinced.

 

[kyear2]

Why is Barnes not as appreciated or celebrated like Don?

Solely played pre WWI, the disparity between the records of the only two teams he played, lack of video evidence... Take your pick.

 

[kyear2]

That's true. Among those who said Barnes was the best bowler they ever saw were: Hobbs, Woolley, Strudwick, MacLaren, Rhodes, Warner, Johnny Tyldesley and Arthur Gilligan among Englishmen. Plus Noble, Hill, Macartney and Faulkner.

Few of his contemporaries disagreed. Fry said he found Lohmann more difficult (he and Barnes had clashed when Fry was England captain in 1912). Herbie Taylor played Barnes well on matting and rated Vogler higher. Vic Richardson saw Barnes in Australia in 1911-12 and placed him behind O'Reilly.

Don't think anyone questions that he was the best of his era. Think that's widely accepted.

And I know he makes your AT XI

 

[shortpitched713]

I mean he is even barely mentioned

No one cared about the bowlers because they were from the labor/working class. The gentlemen batsmen who could afford to bring these guys around the country (and world) with them saw them as the necessary tools for them to have their fun with the bat. Once the service was rendered, they could be replaced.

Barnes was cool because he realized he could actually make a living off of being a really good bowler for different clubs, as an agent and professional to himself. But let's make no mistake, the reason that the vast majority of old times players' careers we even heard about, and certainly all the ones with any level of longevity were batsmen, is because those were the ones with the money to support their habit. And the batsmen were the guys that the moneyed types who wrote about and got their rocks off about the game, cared about.