SYDNEY BARNES - GREATEST BOWLER OF ALL TIME

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Sydney Francis Barnes (19 April 1873 - 26 December 1967) was an English professional cricketer who is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. He 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. In 1911-12, he helped England to win the Ashes when he took 34 wickets in the series against Australia. In 1913-14, his final Test series, he took a world series record 49 wickets against South Africa.
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 (1894 to 1896) and Lancashire (1899 to 1903). Instead, he preferred league and minor counties cricket for mostly professional reasons. He had two phases playing for his native Staffordshire in the Minor Counties Championship from 1904 to 1914 and from 1924 to 1935. He played exclusively for Saltaire Cricket Club in the Bradford League from 1915 to 1923. In his wider career from 1895 to 1934, he variously represented several clubs in each of the Bradford, Central Lancashire, Lancashire and North Staffordshire leagues.Barnes joined Staffordshire in 1904 and played in the Minor Counties Championship until 1914. He combined this with weekend league cricket, returning to the Lancashire League for the 1904 and 1905 seasons to play for Church. In 1906, he moved to the North Staffordshire League and was with Porthill to 1914. 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. He toured Australia the following winter and the bulk of his Test career was played from then till 1914. He made eight appearances for the Players in the prestigious Gentlemen v Players series during this period, culminating in the July 1914 match.[12]
Barnes returned to Test cricket when England toured Australia in 1907-08. This time, he played in all five Tests and took 24 wickets at 26.08 with a best performance of seven for 60.[26] In the second Test, which England won by 1 wicket, it was Barnes' batting that was crucial as he shared stands of 34 for the ninth wicket with Joe Humphries and an unbeaten 39 for the last with Arthur Fielder.[27] When the tourists played Western Australia, Barnes shared a stand with George Gunn of over 200 for the fifth wicket while scoring 93, his personal best in first-class cricket.[28]
In the 1909 season, Barnes played in the last three of England's five Tests against Australia. In the third Test at Headingley, he took six for 63 in Australia's second innings but England lost by 126 runs.[29] The fourth Test at Old Trafford was drawn, Barnes taking five for 56 in the first innings.[30] In the final Test at The Oval, Barnes took two wickets in each innings of another drawn match.[31] In 1910, Barnes was made a Wisden Cricketer of the Year.[32]
Barnes joined the MCC tour of Australia in 1911-12 and played in all five Tests.[12] In the first Test at Sydney, which England lost, captain Johnny Douglas shared the new ball with left-arm seamer Frank Foster. Barnes, disgusted at being made a change bowler, sulked and gave a performance that was well below par.[7] At Melbourne, however, Douglas bowed to the pressure and surrendered the new ball to the Staffordshire bowler, who responded with a spell of four wickets for one run in his first five overs.[33] His first four victims were Warren Bardsley, Charles Kelleway, Clem Hill and Warwick Armstrong. When Frank Foster dismissed Victor Trumper and Barnes added Roy Minnett, the home side were reduced to 38 for six.[34] Barnes took 39 wickets in the series with three five-wicket hauls.[35] These efforts led him to being retrospectively calculated as achieving the number one ranking in the ICC Test Bowler Rankings (he retained it for the next 2 years).[36]
In the 1912 Triangular Tournament, Barnes played in all six of England's Tests, three each against Australia and South Africa.[12] In the three matches against South Africa, he took 34 wickets for 282 runs.[5]
In 1913-14, Barnes toured South Africa with MCC and played in the first four Tests of a five match series.[12] He missed the last Test because of a financial disagreement.[37] His 49 wickets on the matting pitches used in this series remains the world record for wickets taken in a Test series.[38] In the second Test at the Old Wanderers ground in Johannesburg, he became the first bowler to take more than 15 wickets in a Test with figures of eight for 56 and nine for 103 resulting in a match analysis of seventeen for 159.[39]