81 Facts About Sydney Barnes

Sydney Francis Barnes was an English professional cricketer who is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time.

Sydney Barnes 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.

Sydney 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 and Lancashire.

Sydney Barnes had two phases playing for his native Staffordshire in the Minor Counties Championship from 1904 to 1914 and from 1924 to 1935.

Sydney Barnes played exclusively for Saltaire Cricket Club in the Bradford League from 1915 to 1923.

Sydney Barnes was born on 19 April 1873 in Smethwick, Staffordshire.

Sydney Barnes 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.

Sydney Barnes's father did not play much cricket and Barnes was the only one of three brothers who ever "touched a bat or ball".

Outside cricket, Sydney Barnes worked as a clerk in a Staffordshire colliery until 1914, and later at Staffordshire County Council, where he became skilful in calligraphy.

Sydney 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.

Sydney Barnes 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 1894, when Sydney 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.

Later in the 1894 season, Sydney Barnes was invited to play for Warwickshire, who were due to enter the County Championship in 1895.

Sydney Barnes bowled only 8 overs, taking none for 27, and the match was drawn.

Sydney Barnes played only three more times for Warwickshire: twice in May 1895 and once in June 1896.

Sydney Barnes took just three wickets in these matches, having bowled 86 overs and conceded 226 runs.

Sydney 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.

Sydney 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.

Sydney Barnes took ten wickets in the match including a match-winning analysis of eight for 38 in the second innings.

Sydney Barnes 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, Sydney Barnes left Rishton and joined Burnley Cricket Club, in the Lancashire League.

Sydney Barnes 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.

Sydney Barnes's selection was a major surprise and considered to be "the most daring experiment in the history of the game".

Sydney Barnes was a great success in Australia but his participation was cut short by a knee injury.

Sydney Barnes 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.

Australia levelled the series in the second Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground, winning by 229 runs although Sydney Barnes had figures of six for 42 and seven for 121.

Sydney Barnes injured a knee in the third Test at Adelaide Oval and missed the remainder of the tour.

Sydney Barnes later said he was still far short of his best at the time, but he had established himself as a world-class bowler.

Sydney Barnes was selected only once in England's home series against Australia in 1902.

Sydney Barnes took six for 49 and one for 50, but Noble with 11 wickets was again Australia's matchwinner.

In 1903, Sydney Barnes was in dispute with Lancashire about winter employment and being "much over-bowled".

Sydney Barnes thought it unfair that he should be paid the same as teammates who did much less work.

Sydney Barnes tried to get more from Lancashire and refused to sign a contract for 1904.

Sydney Barnes went back to the leagues and minor counties for good and never played in the County Championship again.

The 1902 and 1903 seasons were the only ones between 1895 and 1934 in which Sydney Barnes did not play league cricket.

Sydney Barnes played in 22 first-class matches in 1902, taking 95 wickets at an average of 21.56 with a best analysis of six for 39 and one match in which he took 10 wickets.

Sydney Barnes is listed well down the national averages and his overall performance bears moderate comparison with that of, for example, Wilfred Rhodes who took 213 wickets at 13.15 with five ten-wicket matches.

In 1903, Sydney Barnes made 24 appearances and took 131 wickets at 17.85.

Sydney Barnes was ninth of those bowlers who took 100 wickets; his best analysis was eight for 37 and he had three ten-wicket matches.

Sydney Barnes joined Staffordshire in 1904 and played in the Minor Counties Championship until 1914.

Sydney Barnes combined this with weekend league cricket, returning to the Lancashire League for the 1904 and 1905 seasons to play for Church.

Sydney Barnes did not play first-class cricket again for over four years until he joined an occasional team playing against the South African tourists in September 1907.

Sydney Barnes toured Australia the following winter and the bulk of his Test career was played from then till 1914.

Sydney Barnes made eight appearances for the Players in the prestigious Gentlemen v Players series during this period, culminating in the July 1914 match.

The fourth Test at Old Trafford was drawn, Sydney Barnes taking five for 56 in the first innings.

In 1910, Sydney Barnes was made a Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

When Frank Foster dismissed Victor Trumper and Sydney Barnes added Roy Minnett, the home side were reduced to 38 for six.

Sydney Barnes took 39 wickets in the series with three five-wicket hauls.

Sydney Barnes missed the last Test because of a financial disagreement.

Sydney Barnes took his 150th Test match wicket in only his 24th Test, which is a world record.

Sydney Barnes was 41 when the First World War began and so too old for military service.

Sydney Barnes knew full well his value to Saltaire and characteristically drove a hard bargain.

In total, Sydney Barnes took 904 wickets for Saltaire at an average of 5.26.

Sydney Barnes took a hundred wickets in a season five times, a rare feat in the Bradford League's history, and headed the bowling averages in every one of his nine seasons there.

Sydney Barnes had an average of under five in most seasons and even his highest was only seven, which is itself generally held to be a remarkable bowling average in any level of competition.

Fifteen years after Sydney Barnes left Saltaire, they signed the young Jim Laker, then a sixteen year old schoolboy who lived in nearby Baildon.

Sydney Barnes joined the British Army in 1941 and spent the Second World War in Egypt.

Sydney Barnes did not develop his off break bowling skill until he joined the Army and at Saltaire he was recognised primarily as a promising batsman who was a useful pace bowler.

Sydney Barnes had been told that Barnes would bowl such varied deliveries as an in-swinger, a fast off break and a leg-cutter all in the same over.

Sydney Barnes wanted to take his family with him, but it soon became clear that he would have to pay their traveling expenses.

Sydney Barnes was not selected by England nor did he seek selection by the Players after the First World War.

Sydney Barnes did not play first-class cricket again until 1927 when he was 54 years old.

Sydney Barnes left Saltaire after the 1923 season and returned to Staffordshire where he remained until 1935.

Sydney Barnes moved to Rawtenstall in the Lancashire League from 1931 to 1933.

Sydney Barnes took 49 wickets for Wales in 1928, including seven for 51 and five for 67 in an eight wicket win over the touring West Indians.

Sydney Barnes made two first-class appearances for the Minor Counties in 1929 and took eight for 41 in a drawn game against the South Africans at Stoke-on-Trent.

Sydney Barnes made a total of 177 appearances for Staffordshire in two spells from 1904 to 1914 and 1924 to 1935.

Sydney Barnes bowled with consistent attacking intent, consistently making the batsmen play, and using ongoing variation.

Sydney Barnes bowled right arm fast-medium but had what Arlott called "the accuracy, spin and resource of a slow bowler".

Sydney Barnes was clever at concealing his pace and could produce deliveries that were both appreciably faster and slower than his usual fast-medium pace; and could bowl an effective yorker.

Sydney Barnes considered himself essentially a spin bowler as he bowled both the off-break and the leg-break, but at a fast pace.

The great Australian batsman Clem Hill told Neville Cardus that, on a perfect wicket, Sydney 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.

Wilfred Rhodes recalled that Sydney Barnes carried the ball in his left hand until, a couple of strides from delivery, he switched it to the right.

Sydney Barnes, said Cardus, was "relentless" and "blew a chill wind of antagonism", but he mellowed in full age and retirement.

Bernard Hollowood drew two cartoons of Sydney Barnes, which appear in his book Cricket on the Brain.

Sydney Barnes would seem transcendent if they were not outweighed by his chapter on that great bowler which is a fine passage of cricket literature.

Sydney Barnes was Alice's second husband, following her divorce from George Taylor.

In later life, Sydney Barnes became friends with Pelham Warner, who was his exact contemporary, and they watched cricket together at Lord's.

Sydney Barnes died in 1967 at his home in Chadsmoor, Cannock, Staffordshire.

In 2009, Sydney Barnes was an inaugural member of the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.