John Barnwell (cricketer)
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Charles John Patrick Barnwell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 June 1914 Stoke-on-Trent, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 4 September 1998 (aged 84) Fivehead, Somerset, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations | LML Barnwell, nephew | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1935-48 | Somerset | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First-class debut | 12 June 1935 Somerset v Gloucestershire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last First-class | 1 July 1948 Somerset v Lancashire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 22 Sept 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Charles John Patrick Barnwell (23 June 1914 at Stoke-on-Trent – 4 September 1998 at Fivehead, Somerset) played first-class cricket for Somerset as an amateur player before and after the Second World War.
John Barnwell was a right-handed batsman who, in a team with a large number of all-rounders, frequently batted as low as No 8 or 9 in the order. He sometimes captained the team in the absence of the regular captains Reggie Ingle and Bunty Longrigg. He was also known as a good fielder in the covers.[1]
Educated at Repton, Barnwell first appeared for Somerset in 1935, and played 11 matches the following year, though with a highest score of 38 he made little impact.[2] In 1937, he played only seven games, but passed 50 for the first time with 73 in the match against Gloucestershire at Taunton.[3]
In 1938 and 1939, and again in the first post-war season of 1946, Barnwell appeared in more than half Somerset's first-class matches, although he failed to top 400 runs in any season. In 1938, batting at No 9, he made an unbeaten 49 and shared a partnership for the eighth wicket of 143 with Longrigg which was a county record until beaten by Viv Richards and Ian Botham in 1983.[4] His best season was 1939, when he made 396 runs, including his career-best of 83 against Hampshire at Taunton.[5]
After the 1946 season, Barnwell was allegedly offered the captaincy of Somerset, but turned it down,[1] and appeared for the county only once more, in 1948.
His career outside cricket was as a farmer, breeding silver foxes for the fur trade.[1] According to another account by the same author, he "personified the 'old school', a debonair amateur... Rightly proud of his nimbleness in the covers and the four boundaries in a row he once audaciously took off Voce at Trent Bridge."[6]
His nephew, Michael Barnwell, played cricket for Cambridge University, Somerset and Eastern Province in the 1960s and 1970s.
References
- ^ a b c David Foot. Sunshine, Sixes and Cider: A History of Somerset Cricket (1986 ed.). David and Charles. pp. 134–135. ISBN 0-7153-8890-8.
- ^ "First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by John Barnwell". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Somerset v Gloucestershire". www.cricketarchive.com. 15 May 1937. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Gloucestershire v Somerset". www.cricketarchive.com. 30 July 1938. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ "Somerset v Hampshire". www.cricketarchive.com. 1 July 1939. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ David Foot and Ivan Ponting. Somerset Cricket:A Post-war Who's Who (1993 ed.). Redcliffe Press, Bristol. p. 13. ISBN 1-872971-23-7.