Free Spirit On The Water by Mike Harfield Page A

Australia.
    Had it not been for the mutual antipathy between Lord Hawke and Archie MacLaren, who fought their own personal wars of the roses over many years, Barnes would never have gone to Australia in 1901 and may never have even played Test cricket. They were to have an influence on Barnes’s cricketing career for the rest of the decade.
    When talking about S.F. Barnes, the word ‘uncompromising’ is never far away. In a time when people were supposed to know their place, he refused to bow to the expectations of others. Bowling was his profession and he was proud of it. He knew the value of what he did and if others did not have the same valuation then he would never concede any ground. He would simply take his skills elsewhere.
    Born in Staffordshire, Barnes made his first-class début for Warwickshire in 1895 at the age of twenty-two. It was Warwickshire’s inaugural year as a first-class county and they were on the look out for new talent. Barnes didn’t make the grade and was deemed surplus to requirements. As decisions go, this must rank alongside Decca Records choosing not to sign the Beatles. (Decca said that “guitar groups are on the way out” and “the Beatles have no future in show business”. Instead they signed The Tremeloes who had auditioned on the same day.)
    So what kind of bowler was S.F. Barnes? Was he fast or slow? Did he seam it or spin it? The truth is that he was all of these things, and more. He is not easy to categorise. A spin bowler who opened the bowling. A fast medium bowler who could be singularly quick. C.B. Fry, who captained him in Test matches said of him: “In the matter of pace he may be regarded as a fast or a fast medium bowler. He certainly bowled faster somedays than others; and on his fastest day was certainly distinctly fast”
    Barnes was over six feet tall. Lean and gaunt, he was the perfect build for a bowler. When he first started playing cricket, he was an out and out fast bowler. He soon realised that speed alone was not sufficient. He reduced his pace, introduced a number of variations into his bowling and in effect became a ‘fast medium spinner’. He applied ‘swerve’ using fingers on the ball rather than wrist action. He also developed fast off breaks and leg breaks which gave him movement off the pitch and through the air. When allied with his accuracy and ability to generate pace off the pitch, he was at times unplayable. A famous Barnes story is of two tailenders continually playing and missing against him. “They’re not playing well enough to get out” he was heard to say.
    Although Warwickshire didn’t want Sydney Barnes, Rishton in the Lancashire League certainly did and immediately offered him a contract. Barnes was paid twice as much playing one day a week for Rishton than all week, every week in a whole season of County Championship ‘grind’ for Warwickshire. One can imagine that this state of affairs would have very much appealed to him.
    Barnes repaid Rishton by taking 411 wickets in five years at an average of just over 9 runs each. In 1900 he moved to Burnley, one of the richest clubs in the Lancashire League. Barnes took 111 wickets at an average of 9.22 in his first season. The following year, he claimed 114 wickets at 8.11. Little wonder that Archie MacLaren was interested in getting him to play for Lancashire and England.
    League cricket in the north had been established in the latter part of the 19 th century. Whereas county cricket tended to be arranged to reflect the requirements of the ‘gentleman amateurs’, league cricket was organised around the needs of the working class. After labouring all week in the mills and factories, theworkers would support their local team at the weekend. Admission prices were low, travel to the grounds was easy and the standard of cricket was high.
    It’s fair to say that Sydney Barnes was more at home in the relative meritocracy of league cricket. If you were good enough you would play, and be