{"id":4319,"date":"2025-04-22T09:21:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T08:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=4319"},"modified":"2025-04-22T13:30:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T12:30:05","slug":"great-friends-and-victims-of-bernard-bosanquet-part-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2025\/04\/22\/great-friends-and-victims-of-bernard-bosanquet-part-five\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Friends and Victims of Bernard Bosanquet Part Five<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (April 15th<\/sup> 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flawed Leadership and Suspect Action<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles (CB) Fry was not cut out for leadership. Even though he never lost a Test Match as captain, his leadership was questioned \u2013 he was even booed in his last Test Match as captain. This was a slight he did not forget or forgive. After winning the Test Match Fry spurned the crowd\u2019s requests to appear on the balcony for them to greet. Sussex had slipped down the table after his friend Prince Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji had to prioritise his political responsibilities above cricket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fry was a complex character. His bowling action was suspect. English cricket had been plagued by a chucking controversy since the 1880s \u2013 it resurfaced with a vengeance towards the end of the 1890s. Lancashire\u2019s Arthur Mold had played only three Test Matches. His action had long been considered dubious. His career ended in 1901 after former player turned umpire, James Phillips no-balled him for throwing in 1900 and 1901. Prior to that Phillips had been one of the umpires who no-balled Fry for throwing in 1898. But where Mold\u2019s career petered out, Fry\u2019s did not. He played Test Matches under the same captain who had led Mold in country cricket, Archibald (AC) MacLaren, but unlike Mold, Fry continued playing for many more years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Internationals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fry played for England in 26 Test Matches \u2013 the last of which was nearly a decade-and-a-half after the chucking controversy of 1898. Fry made his d\u00e9but for England in February 1896 against South Africa at Gqeberha, then known as Port Elizabeth. England thrashed the newcomers with a team of largely unfamiliar players by 288 runs. Surrey\u2019s George Lohmann took 7 for 38 in South Africa\u2019s first innings total of 93 all out and an incredible 8 for 7 in the second innings in which South Africa made a miserable 30 all out. Lohmann ended the match with a hat-trick. The match included 15 players making their d\u00e9buts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fry made 43 and 15 in his first Test Match. England won the Second Test Match in Johannesburg by an innings and 197 runs \u2013 Fry made 64. Lohmann took 9 for 28 in South Africa\u2019s first innings of 151 all out. Following on the hosts were dismissed for 134. Lohman took three wickets. Hampshire\u2019s Christopher Heseltine took 5 for 38 on his d\u00e9but in the second innings \u2013 the only wickets he took in the 2 Test Matches that he played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa lost the Third Test Match in Cape Town by an innings and 33 runs, even though England only made 265 when they batted. South Africa made 115 all out in their first innings \u2013 Lohmann took 7 for 42 and 1 for 45 in the second innings where the South Africans were dismissed for 117. Fry didn\u2019t play in this Test Match and had not bowled in either Test that he played in the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A New Era<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fry did not play another Test Match until 1899 \u2013 this was after he had been no-balled for chucking. That match the First Test Match against Australia involved two very important d\u00e9buts, Wilfred Rhodes and Victor Trumper and the exit of one of cricket\u2019s all-time greats, the then England captain, WG Grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fry made his second half-century in the first innings, exactly 50. It was said that Ranjitsinhji\u2019s recommendation had helped Fry\u2019s cause. Trumper made a duck in the first innings and 11 in the second. It was Nottingham\u2019s Test Match d\u00e9but too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International Hypocrisy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ernie Jones, long suspected of chucking bowled to great effect in that series for Australia without complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia made 421 all out. Both Clem Hill and Trumper scored 135. Seven England players bowled in that innings, but not Fry. Australia won that match \u2013 the Second Test Match at Lord\u2019s \u2013 by 10 wickets. Archibald MacLaren took over England\u2019s captaincy from Grace and bot Ranjitsinhji and Fry failed with the bat. The Third Test at Leeds was drawn. The Fourth Test Match in Manchester was drawn. In Australia\u2019s second innings eight players bowled for England \u2013 Fry was not among them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Fifth Test Match at the Oval which was also drawn both Ranjitsinhji and Fry made half centuries and in Australia\u2019s second innings eight bowlers were used \u2013 Fry bowled his first two overs for England. Stanley Jackson and Tom Hayward both scored centuries in England\u2019s only innings. Australia won the series 1-0 \u2013 Jones had played an important part for Australia and Fry had been allowed to bowl for England despite being labelled a chucker the season before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 1901 England won the First Test Match at Sydney by an innings and 124 runs \u2013 this was after the captains\u2019 meeting about chucking and the MCC\u2019s \u2018action\u2019 on it. Australia won the series 4-1 \u2013 neither Fry nor Ranjitsinhji played in that series. Ernie Jones took 1 for 98 in the First Test Match and none in the Second Match \u2013 he didn\u2019t play in the other three matches in the series. Bob Crockett, an umpire who victimised the Aboriginal Jack Marsh saw nothing wrong with Jones\u2019 action, stood in this series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (April 15th 2025) Flawed Leadership and Suspect Action Charles (CB) Fry was not cut out for leadership. Even though he [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1056],"tags":[916,1091,1130,878,1082,1116,1071,880,843,1133,729,1129,1134,1136,976,1132,1131,1135,1119,254,883,1079,1137,1128,879,937,877],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4320,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4319\/revisions\/4320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}