S.F. Barnes Takes 49 Wickets in 4 Tests — South Africa 1913-14

Barnes was 40 years old, had not played a Test since 1912, and had spent the intervening years bowling in the Lancashire and Staffordshire leagues, where he was paid more than the Test fees would have given him.

England's South African tour was led by Douglas, with a side that included Hobbs, Rhodes and Woolley. Barnes had insisted on a private deal with the South African board to play. He arrived in good form.

England's tour of South Africa in 1913-14, captained by Johnny Douglas, was Barnes' personal masterpiece. Bowling on matting wickets stretched over hard South African soil, his fast-medium leg-cutters and off-cutters were almost unplayable for the home batsmen. In the second Test at Johannesburg he took 17 for 159 — the best match figures in Test cricket at the time, only surpassed by Jim Laker in 1956. Across the four Tests he played, his analysis was 49 wickets at 10.93 apiece. He then refused to play the fifth Test. Accounts of the dispute vary — some say it was over the bonus owed to him by the South African board, others over expenses for his wife — but Barnes was 40, professional, and never one to be exploited. Without him England drew the fifth Test. The 49-wicket series record has never been threatened.

“There never was a bowler like him. He could swing the ball, cut it both ways at fast-medium, and pitch on a sixpence.”

England won the series 4-0. Barnes never played another Test. World War I broke out within months and Test cricket would not resume until 1920, by which time he was 47. He continued in the leagues into his sixties.