Name:

Barnes, Sydney F

Date of Birth:

19 Apr 1873

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

Smethwick

Date Died:

26 Dec 1967

Career:

Test: 1901 - 1914
First Class: 1894 - 1930

Teams:

Warwickshire (Regional)
England (Country)

Sydney Barnes turns Ninety

Sydney Barnes: Greatest bowler of all time?

Born : 19 April 1873 at Smethwick, Staffordshire, England
Died : 26 December 1967 at Chadsmoor, Staffordshire, England

Sydney Barnes is regarded as possibly the best bowler in cricket history. He combined swing, seam and spin at medium-fast pace. Barnes was self-made bowler, who obtained lift from the pitch. He could move the ball both ways in the air and was proficient with both off and leg-breaks. He also had great stamina which enabled him to bowl long spells.

He was not known as an establishment figure and disdained county cricket, preferring to ply his trade in the leagues and for Staffordshire.

He took 24 and 34 wickets in the 1907/08 and 1911/12 Ashes series respectively and 39 more in six Tests in the 1912 Triangular series with Australia and South Africa. He saved his best for last though, with a still-record 49 in just four Tests on matting wickets in South Africa in 1913/14. In the second Test at Johannesburg, Barnes took 17-159, a record that stood until 1956. In his final Test, at Durban, Barnes took seven wickets in each innings.

His 189 Test wickets came at the remarkable rate of seven per Test. It was calculated that in all cricket he took 6,229 wickets at an average of 8.33 and he was still playing into his sixties.

Wisden named Barnes as one of its "Six Giants of the Wisden Century" in 1963 in its hundredth edition and he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2009.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter