A GREAT BOWLER.

Grey River Argus, 9 February 1929, Page 7

A GREAT BOWLER.

CAREER OP HAROLD LARWOOD. COALPIT TO CRICKET FIELD. FRESH AIR WORKED WONDERS. The first test match of the present English cricket tour in Australia, which England won by the record margin of 675 runs, will always be known as Larwood’s match, says an English paper of last month. Never has an English player made such an astounding successful debut hi test cricket in Australia. In every phase of the game Larwood excelled and, at the age of 24, he is already recognised as the grea’e t individual forc e in England v. Australia cricket. Larwood’s six wickets for 32 iu Australia first innings was the greatest test bowling feat for many years, his 70 runs in a big partnership with Hendren. which definitely turned the game in favour of England, was scored like a master batsman, and in Australia’s second innings h e caught four of the eight men dismissed, two of them brilliant catches.

In this article, written just before he left for Australia, this newest allrounder modestly relates his rise to cricket fame.

. My early juvenile memories always go back to the recreation ground at Nuncargate and a real passion for hurling a cricket ball as hard as ever I could at the colliery boys batting against me I was a terror for cricket and bowling always appealed to me—especially just bowling. I just loved to see he pegs flyipg. Family of Five Boys.

The fourth of a family of five boys I Was bopi at Nuncargate, Nottingham, in the hear? of the coalmining coun'ry. on November 14, 1904. I got my schooling at the village school at Kirkby Woodhouse, along with four other members of the present Notts team —Whysall, Sam and A. Staples, and Voce.

Joe Hardstaff, for many years now a next-doo r neighbour of my family, was responsible for getting me a post on the ground staff at Trent Bridge. Joe also got his early schooling at Kirkby Woodhouse, and it was there he first learned to handle a bat. When I left school at 14 years of age to earn my living as a pitboy at Annesley Colliery for 30s a week I used to play cricket in the evenings and on Saturday afternoon with Nunear Reserves.

What littl c reputation I had as a fast bowler with the Reserves I lost almost entirely in my first match wi'h Nuncar first against Newstead Colliery. After taking two or three wickets cheaply I found myself opposed by Arthur Staples. He helped himself to a succession of boundaries after which I was proinptly taken off. I was a regular shrimp during the three years I worked underground pony and engine driving at Annesley Colliery. Work was hard and hours Were long. Winter and summer I had to bo up at 6 ajn. in order to be at the coal-face by seven o’clock, a mile or so underground. Working for 7i hours daily, stripped to the waist, in a temperature like a Turkish bath, wasn’t exactly ideal training for a .weedy youngster of 14 with ambi ions to become a fast bowler, but somehow I got through it without any permanent ill effects on my health. I never really wanted a holiday —all I wanted was to finish my work in time to get above ground and have a game of cfi.cke 4 ’. Permanent Ground Engagement. I played with Nuneargate till I was 17, with a fair success at a fast bowler. Joe Hardstaff had had his eye on me for some time, and one day I got an invitation for a trial at the nets at Trent Bridge. I went to the nets next day and 24 hours later found myself with a permanent engagement on the ground staff. It was a case of pitboy one day and a professional cricketer the next, so no time was lost. This first big chance in my fortunes took place about June. 1922. At the age of 17, then. I left Annesley for Mansfield Colliery. Other contemporaries of mine on the Notts ground staff who worked at this colliery included Sam Staples, Jack White, Turner and Walter Keeton; we all played together with the colliery team.

Jim Iremongcr, the old Notts and England cricketer, took me in hand. My first game for Notts second eleven was against Oakham School; I got one wicket after a short trial. I had no idea at all of handling a bat when I fir t joined the ground staff. I generally went in last wickeI’, 1 ’, and little thought that the day would ever come when I would get a century in firstclass county cricket. Curiously enough my first century, scored against Gloucester at Gloucester in the spring of this year, was the first century scored for Notts last season. My first appearance for the couny first eleyen was against Northants four years ago, and the first wicket I secured was that of V. W. C. Jupp, whom I got our l.b.w. I was on the ground s'aff for about two and a-half years before I got a regular place in the first eleven. First Match for Notts.

The change from underground to the fresh air worked wonders with my physical development, and I soon began to thicken and fill out. The match that got me into the first eleven was against Lancashire 11. at Kirby-in-Ashfield in the Minor Counties championship. I got eight for 48, including the wickets of J. T. Tyldesley, Jack Iddon, Sibbles and Halliday—mostly clean bowled. This was in 1925 about midsummer.

I played my first match for the Net's County side in July, 1925, against Yorkshire at Bramall-lane. This was at the age of 20 years, and less than a year later, when l was 21 I played in my first match ag’inst Australia. My first season with Notts Wall bowled very ably in Sydney last season, and on that form would have been preferred to any of the other fast bowlers, save J. M. Gregory, for the first Tcsfc When J. D. Scott was selected for the trial match in Melbourne surprise was expressed in Sydney,, mainly because h e is a

veteran in the cricket sense. Wall is a comparative youth in rhe game. In produced 73 wickets for an average of 18. My best performance was against Worcester near the end of the season, when in the two innings I got seven wickets for 61.

If there is one memory more than another which comes back about that first season in county cricket it is a remark made to me by Patsy Hendren after the match between Middlesex and Notts. We had left Middlesex 500 to win on the third day, having got four of them out for about 60 overnight—and they got them. Hendren’s PropV.-

Patsy Hendren played a great innings for 200 not out, and the Hon. C. N. Bruce and F. T. Mann also got centuries. I had a bad match —none for 96—and travelling down in the train wi h Middlesex I had dinner with Whysall and Hendren. I was a bit glum, and Hendren said: Cheer up young Larwood! You bowled well enough. You’ll get plenty of wickets —and better one' than those you failed to get to-day.*’

As Patsy had given me a bit of stick that afternoon his kindly words of encouragement came back to me the day I was put on to bowl in the great match at the Oval against Australia in 1926, when I got Woodfull, Macartney and Andrews cheaply in Australia’s second innings, and England won the ashes. I bought of Patsy, too, when I played against the Australians for the North of England at Birmingham, and bowled Woodfull and Taylor with successive balls in Australia’s second innings. My first test match was against Australia at Lord’s, when Warren Bardsley got his masterly 193 not out. These are just a few of the most vivid memories that come back to me. I am often asked how I keep fit in the winter. My answer is: 4 ‘Road work.” Every night during my first and second year at county cricket I did a 12miles’ walk during <he winter. There is nothing like it for hardening the muscles of the leg, and the lovely country around my home makes walking a pleasure.