Joe Hardstaff Jr

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Joe Hardstaff Jr
Hardstaff in 1936
Personal information
Full name
Joseph Hardstaff
Born(1911-07-03)3 July 1911
Nuncargate, Nottinghamshire, England
Died1 January 1990(1990-01-01) (aged 78)
Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium
Relations
International information
National side
Test debut13 July 1935 v South Africa
Last Test10 June 1948 v Australia
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 23 517
Runs scored 1,636 31,847
Batting average 46.74 44.35
100s/50s 4/10 83/166
Top score 205* 266
Balls bowled – 3,890
Wickets – 36
Bowling average – 59.47
5 wickets in innings – 0
10 wickets in match – 0
Best bowling – 4/43
Catches/stumpings 9/– 123/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 5 August 2020

Joseph Hardstaff Jr (3 July 1911 – 1 January 1990)[1] was an English cricketer, who played in twenty three Test matches for England from 1935 to 1948. Hardstaff's father, Joe senior played for Nottinghamshire and England and his son, also named Joe, played first-class cricket as well.[2]

Cricket correspondent, Colin Bateman, remarked, "Hardstaff was one of the most artistic batsmen ever to set foot on a cricket field but he paid the high price of falling out with Gubby Allen".[1]

Life and career

Hardstaff was born in Nuncargate, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.

One of the most elegant

New Zealand, and, after being overlooked for the first two tests in 1938, he stroked 169 at The Oval while Len Hutton broke the world record score. He was surprisingly omitted from the 1938/9 tour to South Africa, but averaged 50 in 1939 and played against the West Indies in the last Test series before World War II
.

The war robbed him, like so many others, of perhaps his best cricketing years, and his Test appearances were sporadic when cricket resumed, despite a brilliant unbeaten double century against

India in 1946.[1] He was chosen for the tour of Australia in 1946–47
, but suffered an injury and played in only one Test, scoring 67 in the first innings.

In 1947–48 Hardstaff

clash of personalities meant they did not see eye to eye. On their return, Allen assured Hardstaff that he would never play another Test. Hardstaff asked Allen to name his odds and Allen proffered 100–1, which Hardstaff backed with a five pound note. Hardstaff nevertheless played in the First Test that summer against Australia, and duly received a cheque for £500, which he tore up and posted back to Allen. Hardstaff did not play for England again.[1]

He remained a colossus on the county circuit, stroking 2,396 runs at 64.75 in 1947, but retired with just twenty three tests to his name, having scored 1,636 at an average of 46.74. He headed the national averages in 1949 with 2,251 runs at 72.61. The press clamoured for his reinstatement in the national side, but Allen's influence held sway.[1] On Hardstaff's retirement in 1955, he had almost 32,000 runs under his belt at 44.35, one of the highest scoring Nottinghamshire batsman in history, with a century against every county except his own. He recorded eighty three centuries, with ten double hundreds, and passed a thousand runs in a season thirteen times. In addition to three MCC tours to Australia, and one to the West Indies, he also played two seasons of first-class cricket in New Zealand after the war. He was also a fine, athletic outfielder, and took 36 wickets with his eccentric medium pace. (The highest scoring Nottinghamshire batsman was George Gunn who scored 35,208 runs.)

Free Foresters in the early 1960s.[1]

Hardstaff died in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, on the first day of 1990, aged 78.[1]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-869833-21-X
    .
  2. ^ "Hadlee's nine-for". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 13 November 2019.

External links

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