Sydney Barnes 150th birthday-Greatest ever bowler in cricket history?

[Harsh Thakor]

 

Late Sydney Barnes just reached the milestone of 150.Born at Smethwick, Staffordshire, April 19, 1873. Died at Chadsmoor, Staffordshire, and December 26, 1967.

 

In terms of sheer statistics Barnes is indisputably the best of all bowlers, equivalent of a Bradman to bowling. No bowler has in terms of figures come within hare’s breadth of Barnes, in terms of wickets per test and average. In 27 tests Barnes took 189 scalps at an average of 16.49.No bowler ever was equally ahead of his peers

 

Barnes took bowling art to regions never penetrated, and was almost as unreadable as the likes of Wasim Akram in modern times. Impossible to conceive a bowler in modern times making a concoction of spin with swing like Barnes, or producing such an electrifying effect with sheer swerve. Barnes also captured wickets on batting pitches, equivalent of batsmen playing on wet or uncovered pitches. Barnes set the track or sowed the seeds for the evolution later of a Marshall or Wasim Akram.Possibly no bowler was ever equally successful on wickets unhelpful to bowlers, like Barnes.

 

 

With a bouncy run up his long strong fingers could spin, swerve and seam a cricket ball in the air at medium pace, a but a stock speed well above medium..He bowled with his middle finger over the seam with the first and third spread on either side. His full circular swing enabled him to produce a smooth, coordinated delivery, without almost any bending of the back. Leg and off breaks were a very frequent part of his repertoire.

 I can’t recollect any bowler who blended swing with spin, bar Gary Sobers. Barnes was virtually unplayable when he made a ball swerve through the air after pitching. Barnes took creativity to heights not transcended morally pioneering use of the seam of a new ball and blend swing so subtly with spin that few batsmen could detect the difference. Simply gave bowling art or biomechanics a new definition.

 

The key factor was the sharpness with which he could spin a ball; with his big fingers. Barnes  asserted “I never bowled at the wickets. I bowled at the stroke, then I tried to beat it. I spun the skin of my fingers with blood smearing the ball.”

 

A key to his strength and success was his phenomenal stamina; Barnes was equally effective with a new or old ball.

 

Few bowlers were ever as accurate or relentless as Barnes,or possessed a more lethal leg-cutter. Very similar to Curtly Ambrose he utilised his full height in his delivery. For his time it was almost inconceivable imagining a bowler deriving movement away from pitch at such speed. Barnes was the first medium pace bowler to master the ball that veered from leg to off.

Most cricketers and students of the game belonging to the period in which S.F. Barnes played unanimously agreed that he was the bowler of the century. Australians as well as English voted him unanimously the greatest. Clem Hill, the famous Australian left-handed batsman, who in successive Test innings scored 99, 98, 97, v. A.C. MacLaren's England team of 1901-02, stated that on a perfect wicket Barnes could swing the new ball in and out "very late", could spin from the ground, pitch on the leg stump and miss the off. At Melbourne, in December 1911, Barnes in five overs overwhelmed Kelleway, Bardsley, Hill and Armstrong for a single.

 

The key factor was the sharpness with which he could spin a ball; with his big fingers. Barnes  asserted “I never bowled at the wickets. I bowled at the stroke, and then I tried to beat it. I spun the skin of my fingers with blood smearing the ball.”

 

A key to his strength and success was his phenomenal stamina; Barnes was equally effective with a new or old ball.

Hill was clean bowled by him. "The ball pitched outside my leg-stump, safe to the push off my pads, I thought. Before I could `pick up' my bat, my off-stump was knocked silly."

 

At Melbourne in 1911-1912 Barnes produced on of cricket’s most electrifying spells, on the flattest of pitches., capturing four wickets for a mere three runs. He simply tamed the likes of Clem Hil,Warren Bardsley, and Warwick Armstrong. In that edition of the Ashse he captured 34 wickets at an average of 22, and thus was an architect of England’s 4-1 triumph.

. He didn't go to Australia as one of P.F. Warner's team of 1903-04 and took no part of the 1905 England v. Australia rubber. The future historian of cricket may well question why, in the crucial Test of 1902, Barnes didn't play for England at Manchester, where the rubber went to Australia by three runs only.

 

Barnes had bowled for England at Sheffield in the third and previous Test, taking six for 49 and one for 50. It is as likely as conjecture about cricket ever can be likely that had Barnes taken part in the famous Manchester Test of 1902 England wouldn't have lost the rubber by a hair's breadth.

 

Against Australia he took 106 wickets, average 21.58. Only Trumble and Peel have improved on these figures in Tests between England and Australia (I won't count Turner's 101 wickets at 16.53 because he bowled in conditions not known to Barnes and Trumble).

 

Barnes had no opportunities to pick up easy victims. He played only against Australia and South Africa and, in all Test matches; his haul was 189 at 16.43 each.

At the ripe age of 38 Barnes conserved energy for arguably the most phenomenal or spectacular. bowling display in the annals of cricket. Cricketing skill penetrated regions rarely transcended, when Barnes captured 39 wickets in triangular tournament in 2012 and later 49 wickets in South Africa. Never has a bowler been as unplayable on matted wickets.

On matting in South Africa when South Africa's batsmanship, at its greatest, was represented by H.W. Taylor, A.D. Nourse, L.J. Tancred, J.W. Zulch, in 1913-14, he was virtually unplayable, with 49 wickets in four Tests at 10.93 each. It was assumed he refused to play in the fifth match because he contended the South Africans had not carried out their promise of special reward if he took part in the tour.

 

In the second Test at Johannesburg, Barnes took 17 wickets for 159, a record which stood until 1956 when Laker laid low Australia at Old Trafford with his unique figures of 19 for 90.

It was truly amazing that  against Barnes's phenomenal  swing, bounce, late-turn attack on that 1913-14 tour, Herbie Taylor scored 508 runs, average 50.80, perhaps the most skilful of all Test performances by a batsman.

 

.

At Melbourne, Australia batted first and Barnes this time had the new ball. The havoc unleashed by Barnes, and on all his great days, was mainly  by the ball which, bowled from a splendid height, appeared  to swing in to the leg stump then spin away from the pitch, threatening the off-stump. Barnes actually turned the ball by finger twist.

The incredible aspect  of his career is that he took 77 of his 106 Australian Test wickets on the wickets of Australia which were virtual pancakes  offering not a single respite to  all ordinarily good bowlers. He clean bowled Victor Trumper for 0 at Sydney in the 1907-08 rubber; then Fielder and J.N. Crawford in the following Test dismissed Trumper for a pair, so Trumper was out for 0 in three successive Test innings.

 

Barnes remained a deadly bowler long after his exit from first-class cricket. So calculatedly did he conserve his energy that in 1928 when he was in his mid-fifties, the West Indies team of that year faced him in a club match and unanimously agreed he was the most lethal  they had encountered in the season.

For Staffordshire, in his fifty-sixth year, he took 76 wickets at 8.21 each. Round about this period a young player, later to become famous in international company, was one of the Lancashire Second XI playing against Staffordshire.

 

Assessment as cricketer

Cricket writers like Cristopher Martin Jenkins, John Woodcock and Geoff Armstrong rank Sydney Barnes amongst the top 10 cricketers of all time. Woodcock, unlike Jenkins and Armstrong, rates Barnes the very best bowler, ahead of Warne ,Jenkins rates Barnes above Marshall,unlike Armstrong.David Gower places Barnes at 13^th place ,behind Warne and Marshall, amongst bowlers.

 

With a gun on my head I would rank Barnes amongst the top 6 cricketers ever and greatest bowler ever. I would place him only behind WG Grace, Gary Sobers, Jack Hobbs Don Bradman or arguably Sachin Tendulkar. amongst great cricketers. Respecting mere figures Barnes would rank 2^nd only to Bradman. No bowler ever was equally ahead of his peers, in the history of the game, statistically or in terms of pure skill. In terms of pure unplayability he could well have been at the very top of the pedestal.

 

Still he may not comprise my all-time test Word XI, when one considers evolution in bowling style, speed, movement and transformation in conditions or pitches. I doubt Barnes would have equalled the versatility or creativity of Wasim Akram ,the completeness of Lillee ,the lethality of Marshall or the accuracy or control of Mcgrath or Ambrose .Barnes could not create reverse swing at top speed like Wasim Akram or produce skidding bounce of Malcolm Marshall.

 

Overall unfair to compare with modern greats, as they belonged to completely different eras. Almost impossible to mathematically contrive what effect Barnes would give in the game in later periods or modern era. Equivalent of scaling Olympic Athletes timings in accordance to era.

 

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Edited April 20, 2023 by Harsh Thakor

[Austin 3:!6]

Did you write it on your own?

[Harsh Thakor]

8 minutes ago, Austin 3:!6 said:

Did you write it on your own?

With reference to books like Cristopher Martin Jenkin s100 best .Any feedback ?

[Austin 3:!6]

46 minutes ago, Harsh Thakor said:

With reference to books like Cristopher Martin Jenkin s100 best .Any feedback ?

Bro, you are asking feedback on Sydney Barnes who played with the likes of WG Grace etc

 

Sure, I must have seen him play in my previous life but don't recollect anything 

[zen]

Barnes was probably a Kumble (bowl spin accurately) like bowler with the additional ability to swing the ball at medium pace. 
 

On rank turners, he had the skills to create havoc, and would also work in swing friendly conditions. 
 

If I am considering cricketers from different eras, Barnes would probably make it to my AT Test 11!

 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by zen

[Vijy]

19 hours ago, Harsh Thakor said:

 

Late Sydney Barnes just reached the milestone of 150.Born at Smethwick, Staffordshire, April 19, 1873. Died at Chadsmoor, Staffordshire, and December 26, 1967.

 

In terms of sheer statistics Barnes is indisputably the best of all bowlers, equivalent of a Bradman to bowling. No bowler has in terms of figures come within hare’s breadth of Barnes, in terms of wickets per test and average. In 27 tests Barnes took 189 scalps at an average of 16.49.No bowler ever was equally ahead of his peers

 

Barnes took bowling art to regions never penetrated, and was almost as unreadable as the likes of Wasim Akram in modern times. Impossible to conceive a bowler in modern times making a concoction of spin with swing like Barnes, or producing such an electrifying effect with sheer swerve. Barnes also captured wickets on batting pitches, equivalent of batsmen playing on wet or uncovered pitches. Barnes set the track or sowed the seeds for the evolution later of a Marshall or Wasim Akram.Possibly no bowler was ever equally successful on wickets unhelpful to bowlers, like Barnes.

 

 

With a bouncy run up his long strong fingers could spin, swerve and seam a cricket ball in the air at medium pace, a but a stock speed well above medium..He bowled with his middle finger over the seam with the first and third spread on either side. His full circular swing enabled him to produce a smooth, coordinated delivery, without almost any bending of the back. Leg and off breaks were a very frequent part of his repertoire.

 I can’t recollect any bowler who blended swing with spin, bar Gary Sobers. Barnes was virtually unplayable when he made a ball swerve through the air after pitching. Barnes took creativity to heights not transcended morally pioneering use of the seam of a new ball and blend swing so subtly with spin that few batsmen could detect the difference. Simply gave bowling art or biomechanics a new definition.

 

The key factor was the sharpness with which he could spin a ball; with his big fingers. Barnes  asserted “I never bowled at the wickets. I bowled at the stroke, then I tried to beat it. I spun the skin of my fingers with blood smearing the ball.”

 

A key to his strength and success was his phenomenal stamina; Barnes was equally effective with a new or old ball.

 

Few bowlers were ever as accurate or relentless as Barnes,or possessed a more lethal leg-cutter. Very similar to Curtly Ambrose he utilised his full height in his delivery. For his time it was almost inconceivable imagining a bowler deriving movement away from pitch at such speed. Barnes was the first medium pace bowler to master the ball that veered from leg to off.

Most cricketers and students of the game belonging to the period in which S.F. Barnes played unanimously agreed that he was the bowler of the century. Australians as well as English voted him unanimously the greatest. Clem Hill, the famous Australian left-handed batsman, who in successive Test innings scored 99, 98, 97, v. A.C. MacLaren's England team of 1901-02, stated that on a perfect wicket Barnes could swing the new ball in and out "very late", could spin from the ground, pitch on the leg stump and miss the off. At Melbourne, in December 1911, Barnes in five overs overwhelmed Kelleway, Bardsley, Hill and Armstrong for a single.

 

The key factor was the sharpness with which he could spin a ball; with his big fingers. Barnes  asserted “I never bowled at the wickets. I bowled at the stroke, and then I tried to beat it. I spun the skin of my fingers with blood smearing the ball.”

 

A key to his strength and success was his phenomenal stamina; Barnes was equally effective with a new or old ball.

Hill was clean bowled by him. "The ball pitched outside my leg-stump, safe to the push off my pads, I thought. Before I could `pick up' my bat, my off-stump was knocked silly."

 

At Melbourne in 1911-1912 Barnes produced on of cricket’s most electrifying spells, on the flattest of pitches., capturing four wickets for a mere three runs. He simply tamed the likes of Clem Hil,Warren Bardsley, and Warwick Armstrong. In that edition of the Ashse he captured 34 wickets at an average of 22, and thus was an architect of England’s 4-1 triumph.

. He didn't go to Australia as one of P.F. Warner's team of 1903-04 and took no part of the 1905 England v. Australia rubber. The future historian of cricket may well question why, in the crucial Test of 1902, Barnes didn't play for England at Manchester, where the rubber went to Australia by three runs only.

 

Barnes had bowled for England at Sheffield in the third and previous Test, taking six for 49 and one for 50. It is as likely as conjecture about cricket ever can be likely that had Barnes taken part in the famous Manchester Test of 1902 England wouldn't have lost the rubber by a hair's breadth.

 

Against Australia he took 106 wickets, average 21.58. Only Trumble and Peel have improved on these figures in Tests between England and Australia (I won't count Turner's 101 wickets at 16.53 because he bowled in conditions not known to Barnes and Trumble).

 

Barnes had no opportunities to pick up easy victims. He played only against Australia and South Africa and, in all Test matches; his haul was 189 at 16.43 each.

At the ripe age of 38 Barnes conserved energy for arguably the most phenomenal or spectacular. bowling display in the annals of cricket. Cricketing skill penetrated regions rarely transcended, when Barnes captured 39 wickets in triangular tournament in 2012 and later 49 wickets in South Africa. Never has a bowler been as unplayable on matted wickets.

On matting in South Africa when South Africa's batsmanship, at its greatest, was represented by H.W. Taylor, A.D. Nourse, L.J. Tancred, J.W. Zulch, in 1913-14, he was virtually unplayable, with 49 wickets in four Tests at 10.93 each. It was assumed he refused to play in the fifth match because he contended the South Africans had not carried out their promise of special reward if he took part in the tour.

 

In the second Test at Johannesburg, Barnes took 17 wickets for 159, a record which stood until 1956 when Laker laid low Australia at Old Trafford with his unique figures of 19 for 90.

It was truly amazing that  against Barnes's phenomenal  swing, bounce, late-turn attack on that 1913-14 tour, Herbie Taylor scored 508 runs, average 50.80, perhaps the most skilful of all Test performances by a batsman.

 

.

At Melbourne, Australia batted first and Barnes this time had the new ball. The havoc unleashed by Barnes, and on all his great days, was mainly  by the ball which, bowled from a splendid height, appeared  to swing in to the leg stump then spin away from the pitch, threatening the off-stump. Barnes actually turned the ball by finger twist.

The incredible aspect  of his career is that he took 77 of his 106 Australian Test wickets on the wickets of Australia which were virtual pancakes  offering not a single respite to  all ordinarily good bowlers. He clean bowled Victor Trumper for 0 at Sydney in the 1907-08 rubber; then Fielder and J.N. Crawford in the following Test dismissed Trumper for a pair, so Trumper was out for 0 in three successive Test innings.

 

Barnes remained a deadly bowler long after his exit from first-class cricket. So calculatedly did he conserve his energy that in 1928 when he was in his mid-fifties, the West Indies team of that year faced him in a club match and unanimously agreed he was the most lethal  they had encountered in the season.

For Staffordshire, in his fifty-sixth year, he took 76 wickets at 8.21 each. Round about this period a young player, later to become famous in international company, was one of the Lancashire Second XI playing against Staffordshire.

 

Assessment as cricketer

Cricket writers like Cristopher Martin Jenkins, John Woodcock and Geoff Armstrong rank Sydney Barnes amongst the top 10 cricketers of all time. Woodcock, unlike Jenkins and Armstrong, rates Barnes the very best bowler, ahead of Warne ,Jenkins rates Barnes above Marshall,unlike Armstrong.David Gower places Barnes at 13^th place ,behind Warne and Marshall, amongst bowlers.

 

With a gun on my head I would rank Barnes amongst the top 6 cricketers ever and greatest bowler ever. I would place him only behind WG Grace, Gary Sobers, Jack Hobbs Don Bradman or arguably Sachin Tendulkar. amongst great cricketers. Respecting mere figures Barnes would rank 2^nd only to Bradman. No bowler ever was equally ahead of his peers, in the history of the game, statistically or in terms of pure skill. In terms of pure unplayability he could well have been at the very top of the pedestal.

 

Still he may not comprise my all-time test Word XI, when one considers evolution in bowling style, speed, movement and transformation in conditions or pitches. I doubt Barnes would have equalled the versatility or creativity of Wasim Akram ,the completeness of Lillee ,the lethality of Marshall or the accuracy or control of Mcgrath or Ambrose .Barnes could not create reverse swing at top speed like Wasim Akram or produce skidding bounce of Malcolm Marshall.

 

Overall unfair to compare with modern greats, as they belonged to completely different eras. Almost impossible to mathematically contrive what effect Barnes would give in the game in later periods or modern era. Equivalent of scaling Olympic Athletes timings in accordance to era.

 

.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

he was good.... but was he as good as majid khan? or imran khan? or khan abdul gaffar khan? therein lies the rub, to use a literary reference a la @Mariyam