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S A Barnes Biography & Facts

Sydney Francis Barnes (19 April 1873 – 26 December 1967) was an English professional cricketer who is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. He was right-handed and bowled at a pace that varied from medium to fast-medium with the ability to make the ball both swing and break from off or leg. In Test cricket, Barnes played for England in 27 matches from 1901 to 1914, taking 189 wickets at 16.43, one of the lowest Test bowling averages ever achieved. In 1911–12, he helped England to win the Ashes when he took 34 wickets in the series against Australia. In 1913–14, his final Test series, he took a world record 49 wickets in a Test series, against South Africa. Barnes was unusual in that, despite a very long career as a top-class player, he spent little more than two seasons in first-class cricket, briefly representing Warwickshire (1894 to 1896) and Lancashire (1899 to 1903). Instead, he preferred league and minor counties cricket for mostly professional reasons. He had two phases playing for his native Staffordshire in the Minor Counties Championship from 1904 to 1914 and from 1924 to 1935. He played exclusively for Saltaire Cricket Club in the Bradford League from 1915 to 1923. In his wider career from 1895 to 1934, he variously represented several clubs in each of the Bradford, Central Lancashire, Lancashire and North Staffordshire leagues. Early life Barnes was born on 19 April 1873 in Smethwick, Staffordshire. He was the second son of five children whose father, Richard, lived nearly all of his life in Staffordshire, working for 63 years at the Muntz Metal Company which was based at Selly Oak in Birmingham. His father did not play much cricket and Barnes was the only one of three brothers who ever "touched a bat or ball". Work outside cricket Outside cricket, Barnes worked as a clerk in a Staffordshire colliery until 1914, and later at Staffordshire County Council, where he became skilful in calligraphy. Even into his nineties, his skill as an inscriber of legal documents was still in demand. In 1957, he was asked to present a handwritten scroll to Elizabeth II to commemorate her visit to Stafford. Cricket career 1888 to 1894 Barnes's career began in 1888 when he was fifteen and played for a small club which had a ground behind the Galton Hotel in Smethwick. Soon afterwards, he joined Smethwick Cricket Club and played for its third team. He was taught to bowl off spin by Billy Bird, the Smethwick professional who had played for Warwickshire, and then taught himself to bowl leg spin. In due course, he was selected for the second team and had earned a place in the first team, playing in the Birmingham and District Premier League, at the start of the 1893 season. In 1894, when Barnes was a 21-year-old fast bowler, he was asked to join the ground staff of Staffordshire County Cricket Club but he found the terms unattractive. Instead, he joined Rishton Cricket Club in the Lancashire League where the pay was better than in any form of county cricket, largely because of match bonuses and collections. He played for Rishton until 1899. Wilfrid S. White commented that Barnes's career in league cricket "stands out unparalleled, unapproached, by any other player". Later in the 1894 season, Barnes was invited to play for Warwickshire, who were due to enter the County Championship in 1895. His debut was in a minor match against Cheshire at Edgbaston on 20–21 August. Barnes bowled only 8 overs, taking none for 27, and the match was drawn. On 23 August, Barnes made his first-class debut for Warwickshire against Gloucestershire at Clifton College Close Ground, except that he did not take the field as play was restricted by bad weather to just 72 overs of his team's first innings, in which they reached 102–2. 1895 to 1903 Barnes played only three more times for Warwickshire: twice in May 1895 and once in June 1896. He took just three wickets in these matches, having bowled 86 overs and conceded 226 runs. Barnes finished with Warwickshire after they invited him to play in a match and then sent him a telegram telling him not to come because an amateur would be playing. So, he chose to play mostly for Rishton from 1895 to 1899, making 38 appearances and taking 411 wickets, his best season being 1898 when he took 96 wickets at 8.46. Barnes had been a fast bowler with Warwickshire but in his time at Rishton he reduced his pace to medium fast and experimented with spin. Barnes's association with Lancashire began in 1899 when he played for the club's Second XI against Staffordshire in a match at the County Ground, Stoke-on-Trent, on 10 and 11 July. He took ten wickets in the match including a match-winning analysis of eight for 38 in the second innings. In August, he made his first-team debut for Lancashire and played in two County Championship matches against Sussex and Surrey but he had only moderate success with a best return of three for 99 against Surrey. He rejected an offer to join the Lancashire ground staff, preferring to remain in better-paid league cricket, which he could combine with full-time employment as a clerk in a Staffordshire colliery. In 1900, Barnes left Rishton and joined Burnley Cricket Club, also in the Lancashire League. He did not represent Lancashire that season but reappeared in 1901 when he made two Second XI appearances against Yorkshire's Second XI and one County Championship match, the last match of the season in late August against Leicestershire at Old Trafford. This was a rain-interrupted draw but Barnes scored 32 runs and then took six for 70 in the Leicestershire first innings, reducing them to an all-out 140 in response to Lancashire's total of 328–8 declared. Lancashire wanted Barnes to sign for them in 1902, but Barnes, always financially aware, was unsure, as he considered first-class county cricket to be "a great deal of hard work for relatively little money", and he liked his arrangement with Burnley supplementing his full-time job. Lancashire's captain was Archie MacLaren who was about to form an England team to tour Australia in 1901–02 and, despite Barnes's limited first-class career to this point, he was invited to join the squad. This came about because Lord Hawke refused to allow George Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes to travel but MacLaren had become, to quote White, "the first to see in Barnes a bowler of international calibre". Barnes's selection was a major surprise and considered to be "the most daring experiment in the history of the game". For Barnes, "job security was always a prime consideration" and he accepted the tour but with misgivings. Barnes was a great success in Australia but his participation was cut short by a knee injury. He played against three state teams before making his Test debut against Australia on 13 December 1901 at Sydney Cricket Ground, where he took five for 65 in the first innings. Also making their debuts in this Test were Colin Blythe and Len Braund. Between them, the three debutant bowle.... Discover the S A Barnes popular books. Find the top 100 most popular S A Barnes books.