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East H: One Franks -- Test hero who never played
Test hero who never played
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the public school
man was brought up on a diet of Classics and Divinity. Vir-
gil, Homer, Thuycidides and Aristophanes he would be able to
quote in the vernacular. In the Psalms and the prophesies of Mi-
cah and Ezekiel he would be well versed. But of geography he knew
nothing. In 430 B.C. Herodotus had marked Australis vaguely
in the nether regions between Oceanus Aethiopicus and Mare
Erythrae- um and except for convicts and kangaroos, what further
knowledge was acquired? As the Reverend Arthur Ward remarked to
A.G.Steel, who was sitting amongst the Australians before the
start of their match at Lord`s, "Ah, Mr.Steel, I hear you are
going to play against the niggers". And, of course, the `lower
orders` (as all the rest of the community was known to the
cognoscenti) had no education at all.
In 1878 the first Australian touring team came to play in Eng-
land. Of their 40 matches, seven were played in Yorkshire
against eighteens at Elland, Batley, Hunslet, Hull, Keigh-
ley, Yeadon and Scarborough. But if the tourists thought
they would be playing cricket as laid down in the M.C.C. rules
against these communities, they were in for a shock. Wher- ever
they played, the villagers turned out in force, hoping for the
downfall of the tourists. The pits closed; the looms
stopped. The miners and weavers lined the field, resting their
pints in the niches of the dry stone walls, and exhorting their
team to win, and whether the win was accomplished within or
without the rules of the M.C.C. mattered not one jot. Often on a
wicket that would have caused Fuller Pilch to nip back into the
pavilion to fetch his scythe, the rampant villagers struck alarm
and awe in the hearts of the tourists. Nor did the umpires feel
it their duty to apply the laws of the game as laid down by a
pack of Londoners. Without fear, but certainly not without
favour, they gave their decisions.
There was in Yorkshire, at this time, a band of bowlers
whose actions would not have been countenanced at Lord`s. They
chucked and shied and threw with a speed and abandon that
terri- fied the Australians. But whatever the umpires` personal
opinions of these deliveries might have been, they saw it nei-
ther as their duty nor their desire to penalise the villagers
by denouncing their champions. The second Australian touring
team in 1880 met with the same treat- ment. They screamed and
squirmed but to no avail. At Elland the Australian manager com-
plained, `Osborne shied in a manner which astonished the
Australians, but far more latitude seems to be allowed to
bowlers in England than in the colonies, where unfair bowling is
put down at once`. Nor was there any sym- pathy for the visi-
tors. A reverend gentlemen, writing of these Aus- tralians,
with little milk of human kindness in his breast, had said
in those days our visitors were shocking bad losers`.
In spite of their agony in Yorkshire the 1880 Australians had a
successful tour, so much so that towards the end of the season
Lord Harris persuaded W.G.Grace to arrange a match to be played
against England at Kennington Oval in early September, the first
time the two countries had ever met. But before the first Test
Match the Australians had to play at Scarborough. And there,
waiting for them, was a gentleman of fiery outlook and fierce
delivery. `One Franks went on to bowl`, says the report,
`but literally threw the ball. The Aus- tralians remonstrated
against this Aunt Sally type of cricket, and the umpire
threw out a caution, but all to no purpose. Bannerman, dec-
lining to play him, stood to one side and so lost his wicket;
this amid unseemly jeering and rude remarks from the crowd, who
evidently seemed delighted that the Australians were for once
nonplussed`. Bannerman was a master batsman, `a most charming
player, his off-driving being magnificent`, but it was not
Charles Bannerman that England had to fear at the Oval.
There was, in the Australian team, the great `Demon`
Spofforth, fastest bowler in the world, who had already taken
over 700 wickets on the tour at an average of about five
runs each. He was the manace England would have to face at
the Oval. Bannerman was there merely for One Franks to get a
sight of the wicket and to bring his speed and ferocity to
the boil. As Bannerman, shaken and humiliated, thankfully
departed, on to the field at Scarborough came the Mighty Spof-
forth. One Franks girded up his loins, gave an extra
lick to his bowling fingers, thundered towards the wicket,
threw the ball with all the energy and verve of which he was
capable ... and smashed Demon Spofforth`s finger to pulp.
England won the Test Match at the Oval. W.G.Grace scored 152,
although he had stated that he `did not expect any conspicu- ous
personal success`. But that was before the Scarborough match,
before One Franks had settled the result of the first Test Match.
`It must be mentioned in fair- ness to the Australians`, said
the Badminton library, comment- ing on the game, `that
their best bowler, Spofforth, was preventing by an ac-
cident from taking part in the match`. Ac- cident? Sort of.
But they never thought of sending for One Franks to play
for Yorkshire or England, nor even, to this day, do they mention
his name in the roll of cricket honour. If you lived in
the South of England, you might have thought that
England`s champions were Dr. W.G.Grace, Lord Harris of the
Honour- able Ivo Bligh, but the men of Scarborough, in
1880, knew who had won the first Test for England at Kennington
Oval.
Source:: `Cricket is for fun - Echoes from the golden age of
Yorkshire cricket` by Harry East
Contributed by Graham.Rose (grahamr@juggler.bt.co.uk)
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