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Home , 1966 Gillette Cup, Arthur Holt (sportsman), Arthur Milton, Butch White, Denis Compton, Derek Shackleton

MIKE BARNARD ‘good at games’ by Dave Allen

The Grammar School Monograph series No. 22 MIKE BARNARD - ‘good at games’ During the first half of the twentieth it was possible, if not common for talented English sportsmen to earn a wage playing football in the winter and in the summer. Neither of these professions was especially well paid, and an ability to play professionally at both sports ensured a full wage twelve months of the year.

Mike Barnard, like his contemporaries such as Arthur Milton, , Willie Watson and fellow cricketers , Henry Horton, and Bernard Harrison, played professionally at both sports. But Londoner Denis Compton is one of the few men who, like Mike Barnard, played exclusively for the football club and cricket county of his birth – and while Compton played for , even he cannot match Barnard’s 100+ football league appearances in the top division.

In the early 1950s, Mike signed with Portsmouth Football Club who were then one of the strongest sides in Britain. He also joined Hampshire Club, by contrast among the weakest of the 17 county sides. As Hampshire were finishing next-to-bottom of the table in the autumn of 1949, Pompey were embarking on a successful defence of their league title of the previous season. When his cricketing career ended in the mid-1960s, the fortunes of the two sides had been reversed. Henry Michael (Mike) Barnard was born in July 1933 and grew up in Portsea, the youngest of four brothers, who all attended Portsmouth Grammar School. His father ran a garage business just 100 yards from the Dockyard. But when the war came and with it the threat of German bombs, the family moved from Street to the town of Havant a few miles north east of the bombers’ targets. Within twelve months, the old business had been flattened.

Mike entered the Grammar School in January 1945 and impressed from the start as a sportsman, his form master’s very first report describing him as being “good at games”. In the winter of 1945 the Portmuthian told us that Soccer Colt Mike Barnard when he played for the Rugby Under 15 Colts, 1948 Barnard (inside left), a member of an unbeaten side, was “clever” and offered “good support to his winger” although he was also “rather light and inexperienced” – not unreasonable at the age of 12. Since some of his colleagues were criticised for being “rather slow”, having “faulty” ball control, being “inclined to wander” or having a “poor kick”, Mike was clearly promising.

By 1947, the magazine was reporting on the second season of Rugby Football at the school, which had replaced soccer as the School’s winter game. Over his school career Mike moved from scrum-half to fly-half, had a settled period at full-back Front Cover: Mike Barnard , c 1960. and then ended up back at scrum-half (April 1951). In 1947, playing at fly-half, he

Monograph No. 22 1 Portsmouth Grammar School Rugby Under 15 Colts, 1947/48. Portsmouth Grammar School First XI, 1950. (Barnard is seated on the ground on the right.) (Barnard is in the front row, second from left.)

“used his excellent soccer footwork to great advantage”. By the following spring and 2nd XI with their new coach Arthur Holt – another man who played cricket he was praised for being an “unflurried” full-back with “excellent” positioning, “a and soccer (for FC). fine pair of hands” and “courageous” tackling. Among his colleagues in the XV were Roger Harris and the two captains DB Edwards and JM Smart. Mike received his He also played rugby for the county’s Under-19 side. His father told the colours in 1950. Portsmouth Evening News that Mike “tolerated” rugby but would “get his game of soccer somehow”. On Sundays he played for Bedhampton Boys Club and then His impact as a cricketer was less well recorded until 1948. While Bradman’s Havant United where he was spotted again and went via into top-flight ‘Invincibles’ took England by storm Mike, still young enough for the Colts, was the football. In May 1951, at the end of his school career and approaching his 18th First XI’s “most consistent” batsman with “very attractive strokes”. As a bowler he birthday, he signed as an amateur with Pompey, having already joined Hampshire could “turn the ball both ways” and was, of course, “quick in the field”. In 1949, the County Cricket Club. First XI played a couple of games during the summer holidays and Mike “saved” them against the OP Club with a “courageous” 48. This courage, developed on the Mike passed his School Certificate but as a grammar school boy of average playing fields would be crucial in Mike’s adult life. academic ability and with few University places available, the chance to be a professional sportsman was too good to resist. He left school in 1951 and took By the following summer he was praised for his “wide range of shots, usually digs with Hampshire’s groundsman Ernie Knights and his wife Bella. On the executed with power and elegance”. He was also a “very dangerous change bowler groundstaff, his duties meant working alongside Ernie and his small team, and an excellent fielder” although he was warned not to “hook off leg stump” too maintaining the ground and general facilities at Northlands Road. Over the next early in his . couple of years his sporting career was also interrupted by a period of National Service in the Army. He had been prepared for that at PGS, reaching the rank of In 1949 he averaged over 60 for Hampshire Schools and he headed their averages Lance Corporal in the Combined Cadet Force (CCF). again in 1950 and was third in the averages at 10.3. His PGS colleague P Bishop captained that side. Meanwhile, the School XI won nine and drew five of When he resumed his professional football career in 1953, Pompey were trying to their 16 matches and it is interesting to note the relatively low scores; in a number develop their own players to replace the recent Champions like Scoular, Froggat of games neither side passed three figures. Mike progressed from the school and and Reid although remained throughout Mike’s career. The county school sides to England Schools and also to Hampshire’s Club & Ground footballer’s maximum wage was £14 per week, rising to £20 by the end of the

2 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 3 decade and broken early in the 1960s as Fulham’s Johnny Haynes became the first On the 2 January Mike played again as Pompey beat Huddersfield 5-2 and he to earn £100. held his place for seven matches. He then missed six games but returned for the final 10 matches of the season, finishing with a 3-0 victory against West As a cricketer, Mike had already made his Hampshire debut with another Bromwich Albion who finished runners-up to Wolves. Mike had scored six goals newcomer Guy Jewell in a three-day match in 1952 against Glamorgan in . in 19 matches and Pompey finished in 14th place after which he returned to Mike was still in the Army but injuries had left Hampshire short of players and he Southampton for the new cricket season. was called into the side. The third day – a Friday – was his nineteenth birthday but it was an inauspicious start as he made four and nought and bowled three fruitless Mike played initially in Club & Ground matches until he arrived at the County overs, although he did hold his first catch. Throughout his career he would hold Ground on the morning of Saturday 22 May to act as twelfth man for the first many more – and, unusually, at better than one per match. team against . But with the start approaching, Hampshire’s veteran off-spinner Charlie Knott – an amateur – rang in to apologise that work had Mike had to wait more than twelve months for his next chance in a match in detained him and he withdrew from the team. Hampshire stuck with their original his home city against Warwickshire but his ‘pair’ (two successive ducks) meant a but were dismayed to be reduced to 48-8 before Mike came to the third successive first class and a return to the 2nd XI. A few months later, and helped to the total, top-scoring with 39. In the second innings just before Christmas 1953, his picture appeared in the local newspaper with the his undefeated 24 was second highest and although Hampshire lost, Mike had caption informing readers that his “recent form for Pompey reserves had been enjoyed his first taste of cricketing success at county level. very promising”. In a 3-0 victory over Millwall Reserves he scored twice and was identified as “the best” of Pompey’s forwards. Hampshire then played a two-day friendly mid-week match against the Around Portsmouth over Christmas 1953, the King’s Theatre offered Cinderella, at Portsmouth. They selected while Babes in the Wood was at the Empire; there was a “Carnival Dance” at the some good batsmen but few bowlers, Savoy and the Greyhound stadium opened for racing on the morning of Boxing so Mike took the new ball with Roy Day. On Christmas Day, Pompey fans were offered a coach trip to for just Marshall with little success. Hampshire 2/6d (about 13p) where they could see their team play Tottenham Hotspur and, as followed on and only a good innings was traditional in those days, the two teams met again on the following day where from Neville Rogers prevented defeat. the fans could see Mike’s debut as a twenty-year-old at inside left. Pompey had The county side stayed in Portsmouth to begun the season with four defeats but were improving when Mike appeared and entertain the touring side on the a Park crowd of 36,667 watched the two sides share a 1-1 draw. The local following Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. correspondent suggested that Mike needed “a little more devil in his shooting” but The tourists had some good players and that he was “quick” and “opened up some promising moves”. drew the Test series 1-1, the only touring side to avoid series defeat in England in ten seasons from 1951-1960. Despite a modest performance against the Royal Navy, Mike retained his place and his family came to watch. He batted at five, Mike Barnard and Henry Horton but was dismissed by for walking out to bat at Portsmouth, just two runs. Both sides struggled and 1954. batted slowly but Hampshire took a lead Mike Barnard heading the of 22 and early on the Tuesday morning ball in the match against Mike came to the wicket again at 71-3 to Scunthorpe United in the play his first major innings. FA Cup, 1954. Courtesy of The News, Portsmouth News, The Courtesy of

4 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 5 He started carefully but after lunch enjoyed a quick partnership with the Saints fullback Henry Horton and after the latter departed, Mike went on past his first fifty and eventually his debut century. He told his local newspaper “it seemed to come easy after lunch” while ‘Nimrod’ the correspondent described his innings as “a joy”. In a match in which no other player passed fifty, he scored 101 and then asked to bowl. He dismissed both openers including the great , taking 2-18. Mike took 10 first-class in that season and three more in the following year. His career victims included England batsmen , and Don Kenyon and in July 1955 he came on against Warwickshire and dismissed both opening batsmen Horner and Gardener who had opened with a partnership of 99. Strangely there would be only three more first-class wickets in his career, as he became a specialist batsman.

Mike had made an important breakthrough in his first-class cricket career and the following football season was to be similarly significant. In his second season The Hampshire team of 1955 that finished third in the Championship. he played 30 times in a Pompey side that finished 3rd – their best position in the previous 60 years. The marvellous period began at on 21 August where reserves for a spell But he was back a few weeks later. Pompey’s inconsistency was Pompey won 3-1. Meanwhile his cricket colleagues were at on the same apparent as they won three and lost three and Mike missed the final six games. day and still had three matches to play. Even in the 1950s, balancing these two Pompey were level with Wolves on 48 points with Champions Chelsea four points sporting careers was not simple but Mike will have been happy to score his first ahead in the days of two points for a win. Chelsea’s manager was Ted Drake, who goal of the season four days later, as a crowd in excess of 35,000 saw Pompey beat had played 27 cricket matches for Hampshire from 1931-1936. Huddersfield 4-2.

This was a remarkable period for Mike and his teammates in both sports. On 2 Mike missed just one match until Pompey’s surprising FA Cup defeat against May, Pompey ended their season at , somewhat disappointed not to Rovers on 8 January. 8,000 fans travelled from Portsmouth but the lower have won the title. Exactly four months later, Hampshire beat Worcestershire by 79 league side enjoyed one of the day’s upsets. Mike did appear in the following runs at and celebrated unreservedly, finishing in the same position match against Aston Villa at but with Pompey trailing again, a “freak as Pompey – third - for the first time in their history. They followed the two great fog” hit the city; traffic slowed considerably, Portsmouth Harbour was closed and sides, and and had the most wins and points in the club’s history. Pompey were reprieved as the match was abandoned. Mike then returned to the When they defeated the Champions Surrey at Bournemouth the Portsmouth Evening News suggested it was “probably the greatest day” in Hampshire’s 60- year history. Mike was undefeated on 42 in that match, recorded his first Championship century against Leicestershire at Bournemouth, held 32 catches, passed 900 runs for the season and this time chose to stay with the cricket until the season’s end.

He had played very little until June but on the 11th and 13th was an important member of the side that won an impressive two-day victory at Bradford by an Pompey training innings. Hampshire batted on the Saturday, lost their first wicket at 85 but were session – Mike then reduced to 93-5 until Mike and added 51 to help Hampshire to Barnard and Jimmy 224. On the second day, Roy Marshall and demolished Yorkshire

Courtesy of The News, Portsmouth News, The Courtesy of Dickinson (centre) twice with Mike holding the winning catch. He also appeared in a tied match

6 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 7 against at – only the third in Hampshire’s history – and Having started so promisingly in 1956 he managed only 600 runs at an average contributed 75 in an innings victory over Middlesex. HS Altham, the club’s of 20 and he played his last cricket on 3 August returning to Pompey to start the Chairman said that while Mike was “not classic in technique” he “always played season with a defeat at Newcastle. In September 1956, live rock & roll came to enterprising and attractive cricket” and he celebrated Mike’s running between Portsmouth for the first time with Tony Crombie and his Rockets appearing at the the wickets. He was just 22 and he was rewarded by Hampshire with his county Theatre Royal. Mike always preferred swing, the great crooners and jazz singers and an improved contract. He must have felt that his sporting dreams were including Lena Horne and Count Basie. He still recalls the great pleasure he and coming true. his wife Terry took from seeing Ella Fitzgerald in concert. He was also fond of the Goons – notably Michael Bentine’s histrionic reading of the football results. After the late finish to his cricket season, Mike was called away on two weeks’ army training and then played in Pompey’s reserves until late October, when he appeared in the Floodlit Cup. Pompey would host the historic first-ever floodlit English League match against Newcastle four months later but sadly it would be the only match he missed from 25 successive games. Among the season’s highlights were a 4-4 draw with Chelsea on the last day of 1955 and a 5-2 home victory against Arsenal. His season ended in a defeat at Old Trafford but he had scored seven goals in 28 matches.

Exactly a fortnight later Mike walked out at Lord’s to bat against the MCC and recorded his third first-class century – 128 not out. It was an auspicious start to the 1956 season and Mike’s third first-class century in his 44th match. Still only 22, he was clearly a promising young player yet strangely in the remaining 232 first-class matches of his career there would be only three more centuries – and only one in the Championship, although it would have historic importance. Courtesy of The News, Portsmouth News, The Courtesy of

In truth Mike never quite fulfilled that early promise, except as a catcher. By Pompey team, 1956. (Barnard seated second from right) his own admission, his career statistics are those of an average batsman who tended to lose concentration, failing to convert good starts to substantial scores. United’s ‘Busby Babes’ were the Champions, while Pompey finished A clear indication of this can be found in the fact that having reached his half- only four points clear of relegation and their inconsistency was clear in two century he only went on to his century in 11.5% of his innings. His Hampshire matches in which Mike appeared. On 6 October they beat Aston Villa 5-1 but seven contemporaries all had better conversion rates, with Rogers on 29%, Marshall 27%, days later Wolves thrashed them 6-0. Mike played in 12 of the first 14 matches, Livingstone 25%, Gray and Horton 20%, Rayment 15% and his swashbuckling showing his best form but returning to the north-east on 27 October, he showed skipper Ingleby-Mackenzie at 16.5%. That this statistic might constitute the good form and scored a goal in a thrilling 3-3 draw but then suffered serious measure of true greatness is confirmed by Bradman’s figure of 63% - more cartilage and ligament damage from a violent two-footed tackle by Sunderland’s hundreds than fifties – while the great English batsmen of Mike’s generation were Billy Elliott – no dancer he. In the days before permitted substitutes, Mike hobbled with 40% and with 32%. through the rest of the match on the wing, which cannot have improved the injury. He played no more in the season. On one occasion against Forest But in one vital aspect of the game Mike stood with the best and that was as a slip when Pompey lost their goalkeeper, Mike utilised his slip-catching skills and took catcher. He held 312 catches in 276 matches – an average of 1.13 catches every over for the rest of the match. match. Of his teammates only Peter Sainsbury and his first Desmond Eagar at better than one-per-match and at other times only a few Hampshire Fortunately he was fit when the 1957 cricket season arrived. After a poor start, regulars can match that achievement: Greenidge, Maru, Richards, Terry, DF Walker he enjoyed his most consistent period with five half-centuries and an improved and Wynyard.

8 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 9 Queen Elizabeth meets Mike Barnard at Guildford, 1957

average. At Guildford in June, he top-scored with just 13 as Surrey dismissed The Hampshire team of 1958 that finished runners-up in the Championship. Hampshire for 66, winning by an innings in two days and before the scheduled (Barnard standing, second from left) visit of HM the Queen as part of local celebrations. The teams played a friendly and were presented to Her Majesty. But before those deep disappointments, came the very wet yet wonderfully exciting summer of 1958 when Hampshire promised to win their first Championship before Once again Mike departed for football at the start of August, missing the final nine settling for the runners-up spot to Surrey’s seventh consecutive title. There was cricket matches, but he played in just three matches before returning and scoring little promise of greater things at the start of the season as Hampshire began with in an extraordinary 4-7 defeat at Chelsea on Christmas Day! On the following a northern tour and three consecutive defeats until a win against Worcestershire day he scored again as Pompey beat the same opponents 3-0. There were three got them going. Mike scored inconsistently although he picked the worst decade further spells during an in-and-out season in which Pompey narrowly avoided in which to specialise as a county batsman. Wickets were uncovered, many of the defeat, finishing in 20th place and avoiding relegation by goal difference. At the outgrounds produced unreliable surfaces and there were some very fine bowlers end of March, Mike played in a remarkable 5-4 victory over Arsenal, the first of in county cricket including Bedser, Trueman, Statham, Tyson, Bailey, Laker, Lock, three consecutive victories but after this they took just one point from their final Wardle and – at Hampshire – . As a consequence, scores were six matches. Despite this, Pompey could now claim to have spent longer than any considerably lower than they are in the modern game. For example in early June, other side in the top division without relegation – but that record would last only Hampshire dismissed Middlesex for 149 but lost, while in the following matches one further season. they managed only 134 against Leicestershire and 207 v Somerset, but won both matches. Back home at Portsmouth in mid-July, Mike scored 53 to help Hampshire If 1955 was a season of high achievement for Mike’s two sides, 1958 was one of to 265 all out – sufficient to ensure an innings victory over neighbours Sussex. transition and marked contrasts in the fortunes of his two clubs. Desmond Eagar Sadly in mid-August came the game that more than any other took the title from retired at the end of the 1957 season and Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie replaced him as Hampshire’s grasp. They had drawn the previous two matches before playing Hampshire’s captain and took the side to new heights. At Fratton Park, Pompey’s Derbyshire at Burton-on-Trent on a damp and often dangerous club ground. Mike narrow escape from relegation led to the departure of manager Eddie Lever just as held his catches as the home side were dismissed for 74 and 107, yet astonishingly Ingleby-Mackenzie led Mike and his teammates out for the first time on a sodden these scores were sufficient to ensure victory by more than 100 runs as Hampshire Bradford ground in May 1958. Lever was replaced by Freddie Cox, destined for a were bundled out for 23 and 55. Mike scored 5 and 16, the highest in each innings brief and disastrous spell as Pompey’s manager and one that would end Mike’s and possibly the lowest aggregate ever to claim such an achievement! In the end league career at the age of 25. Hampshire won just one of their last eight matches but second place was a fine

10 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 11 achievement. During 1958, the county’s greatest batsman died. He Denis Baldry who had moved from Middlesex and Ray Flood from the New Forest scored more runs for Hampshire than any man has ever scored for any one first- played more regularly for Hampshire’s first team. Mike managed only 316 runs in class side and in the held the record score for England v Australia. Yet it is nine first team matches until on 26 August at Bournemouth he scored his fourth perhaps a measure of the life of the professional cricketer in that period, that he century, 128 against the Indian tourists. The county’s Handbook observed that he died blind and intestate, leaving just £390 of assets. played a “fine innings” and “was hard to recognize as the same player who had struggled for so long”. Mike returned to Fratton Park in September 1958, where the new manager was proving far from popular as he signed and sold a number of players – transfer- There was always competition among Hampshire’s aspiring middle order batsmen listing Mike Barnard. His first match was a 2-0 defeat by Newcastle in late during Mike’s career but Ray Pitman and Alan Rayment had now retired, Ray Flood September but he played just three matches after appearing in a 6-0 defeat at West would hardly play any more and Baldry never replicated his splendid 1959 form. Ham on 20 December. He missed the match against with influenza but However, Antiguan Danny Livingstone established himself at number four, so returned for a vital relegation battle against Manchester City when Pompey, 2-0 in Mike still had to fight for a regular place and in 1960 – as Hampshire disappointed the lead, conceded four goals in eight minutes and lost 4-3. Mike’s last appearance – he managed just two half-centuries in 23 matches and averaged less than 20 per was a 5-1 defeat at home to Newcastle on 11 March. Pompey did not win after 22 innings. While he enjoyed his new and more varied winter career, there was no November 1958, lost the last nine matches, conceded 112 goals, finished bottom particular reason to suppose in the early months of 1961 that his greatest days were and were relegated. Mike’s last competitive match in a Pompey shirt was on 25 ahead. April 1959 for the reserves in a 2-1 victory over Cardiff. Neither was there any reason to think this as his season began so poorly – even Mike had moved home to Southampton – his wife was from that city - and they with a half century on his home ground against he managed just showed interest in signing him. However over the glorious summer of 1959, 154 runs in 10 innings and a Whitsun ‘pair’ against saw him replaced by Pompey allowed his registration to lapse and he was offered comparable wages to Baldry, who began by top-scoring in Yorkshire. This was a vital innings as the move into non-league football. With a future career in mind, he was able to gain northern county, champions for the previous two years, had won every match until some teaching experience near his new home rather than training full-time during Hampshire held them to a draw. Baldry’s reward was a regular place in the side the week. Back in February 1956 the Evening News had reported “Barnard Coaches through June and July, while Mike played for the 2nd XI, except for an innings of 75 Young Cricketers” with a photograph of him at the city’s RN Barracks Gymnasium again on home turf, in a friendly match against Oxford University. coaching Portsmouth Grammar School boys, in particular Chris Ayling who would later join Hampshire’s Committee and whose son Jon (another OP) would play for Mike replaced his injured captain against Sussex at Portsmouth as ‘Butch’ White’s Hampshire in their first three Cup Finals. hat-trick conjured an improbable win. Hampshire led the table but then, after two matches that had yielded no points, their aspirations reached what their Handbook In September 1959 Mike signed for Chelmsford City of the Southern League called “crisis” point and on 12 August Mike replaced Dennis Baldry on the trip to managed by former Pompey player Harry Ferrier, alongside former Pompey Derby. After his fine start, the latter had averaged only around 17 runs per innings colleagues Len Phillips and Gordon Dale. He was top goalscorer in that first and potential Champions needed more. At Derby, Hampshire batted first and Mike season and played in 129 matches from 1959-1963, scoring 43 goals. One notable joined Horton on 132-4. The pair added 91 with Mike’s 45 a useful contribution early appearance for his new club was in March 1960 when he interrupted his towards a good total and on the third day, victory. honeymoon to play for Chelmsford at home to Gravesend and Northfleet and scored 4 goals in a 7-1 win! When he left Chelmsford, he joined Poole Town for one This was the beginning of the most important three weeks in the club’s history and season before retiring from football in 1964. Mike Barnard would enjoy the finest and most significant of his entire sporting career. Hampshire returned to their headquarters where Warwickshire enjoyed a After the excitement of the 1958 cricket season, Mike was unable to capitalize on perfect Southampton wicket, declaring at 324-9 and when Hampshire slumped to the fine sunshine of the following year. In the first year of the inter-county 2nd XI 101-4 the visitors would have anticipated victory. Wickets fell elsewhere, but Mike competition he was to be found quite often as a senior member of that side, while Barnard, with only one Championship century in his career, and wicketkeeper Leo

12 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 13 Harrison added 101 in an hour. observed that “such a gallop was too hot to last” and reported that Mike completed his century with a typically “swift and stylish cover drive”. Later, the Hampshire Handbook said of Mike’s 114 (not out) that it was “the best innings he has ever played and the most important”. He scored his runs in just two hours, 35 minutes, enabling Hampshire to declare, White and Shackleton then dismissed four batsmen that evening and Hampshire were comfortable winners.

Then it was back to Portsmouth where Mike made 59 in an easy victory over Leicestershire, followed by 77 in another victory at . Hampshire returned to Southampton and brief respite with a friendly against the Australian tourists who had won that summer. It was to be Mike’s only failure of this period (five and four runs) and Hampshire were easily beaten by Benaud’s side but no-one was concerned. Hampshire led the table over Yorkshire who would Hampshire 1961 – the County Champions visit Bournemouth in the last match of the season but Hampshire knew that if they (Barnard standing, second from right) could beat Derbyshire on the same ground in the penultimate match, or if Yorkshire failed to beat Warwickshire at the same time, Hampshire would be Champions for the first time in their history.

Hampshire started well against Derbyshire but fell from 120-0 to 306 all out and on the second day the visitors took first innings points with a lead of 12. Meanwhile, Yorkshire managed a similar lead at Edgbaston but Hampshire were encouraged by Warwickshire’s openers who remained together while scoring 72 on that second evening. One of them, Norman Horner, was an exiled Yorkshireman and he continued to frustrate Yorkshire on the final morning, reaching his century. On the Friday morning, Hampshire needed quick runs to set a target but too soon lost their star West Indian batsman Roy Marshall. Then came Mike’s greatest sporting moment as he joined Peter Sainsbury and the two local men hit and ran wonderfully well, adding 99 in just over an hour. Mike scored 61 enabling Celebrating the winning of the Celebrations in the dressing room. Hampshire to declare, while Warwickshire also set a target and immediately had Championship on the balcony at Yorkshire struggling at 59-5. Bournemouth, 1st September 1961.

John Arlott observed the day’s play at Bournemouth. He suggested that Mike was “justifying his early promise at the most valuable juncture” describing his “quick, In 1961, local newspapers were often the best source of latest cricket scores, confident whippy strokes to leg”. He added that the stand with Sainsbury was of publishing three or four editions each day, so many supporters will have seen the “unmistakable Championship quality”. The Times reported latest Yorkshire score in mid-afternoon and felt that after 66 years, Hampshire were on course for their first-ever title. Nonetheless, they were determined to win A month ago, Barnard was out of the Hampshire side with no immediate the title in the best possible way and, just as Yorkshire-born Horner had frustrated prospect of regaining his place. Now he is finding batting as simple a his home county in the morning, so it was Hampshire’s Yorkshireman, Derek matter as earlier it was desperately difficult. Shackleton, who produced the crucial performance. Derbyshire had three-and- a-quarter hours to chase 252 but never came close as they fell to 52-8. There was a slight recovery but at 4.08 pm Danny Livingstone held a catch on the long-on

14 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 15 off the bowling of Peter Sainsbury and Hampshire were Champions. As suited to this new short form of the game. Had it arrived ten years earlier he might it happened, Yorkshire finished well short of victory but that was of no consequence have maintained his bowling as well and become a key figure in Hampshire’s to the Hampshire team and supporters. limited-overs side. He also scored his last first-class century that season against the Australians - a third century against a touring side. In those three wonderful weeks, Mike Barnard had played Championship innings of 45, 114*, 59, 77, 5, 19 and 61 – oddly 19 and 61 in the match that confirmed By 1965 he was opening the batting with Roy Marshall and was top-scorer again the 1961 Champions. Yorkshire arrived the next day and with the task done and as they lost their first cup quarter-final at Edgbaston. In the following year, Barry the pressure off, Mike fell to Illingworth without scoring but those 380 runs at an Reed arrived as a new opening batsman and Mike, now 33, struggled in the average of 63.6 constituted the best and most important spell of his career. On the Championship scoring just one half-century and decided the time had come to following morning Brian Chapman in the Daily Mirror suggested that this great retire. Nonetheless, he featured in the first Hampshire side to reach a cup semi- prize “came home to its own heart and birthplace” – a reference reaching back final and finished with a limited-overs average of almost 40. At the time, this figure two centuries to the legendary Hambledon Club. There were no Hambledon men was almost 10 runs per innings better than any other Hampshire batsman. in the side of 1961 but Mike Barnard (Portsmouth) and Alan Wassell () represented South-East Hampshire in the latest historic Hampshire side. It may be that the success of 1961 gave Mike greater confidence, for while Hampshire failed to reproduce their collective form in the following year he made his most appearances (29), passed 1000 runs and recorded eight half-centuries. His 37 catches were also a personal season’s best and the retirement of Dennis Baldry suggested that Mike, still not 30, was establishing himself as a permanent member of the side. In the next three years he played fairly regularly and scored 980, 814 and 958 runs averaging in the low twenties, while continuing to hold his catches. The early 1960s saw as many major changes in professional sport as in English pop music and fashion. Mike moved out of professional football just as the maximum wage was abolished, in 1962/3 the distinction between amateurs and professionals was removed in cricket and in the summer of 1963 the on-field revolution began with the inaugural limited-overs competition between first-class teams. This Hampshire 1966 – Mike’s final year (standing third from right) became known as the Gillette Cup and took place initially with 65 overs per side, and matches intended to be completed on one day. In those early days, single innings, one-day, was seen as occasional light entertainment, Mike also played in three of these shorter matches for Hampshire against the interrupting the serious business of the Championship and it would be almost ten International Cavaliers at Titchbourne Park – in 1965, 1966 and post-retirement more years before that form reached the international stage. in 1968. These televised games were the forerunners of the Sunday League, introduced in 1969. After his retirement, Mike played a few games with the 2nd As a consequence, Hampshire’s baptism against Derbyshire was on a May XI, including five in 1967 when the county won the 2nd XI title including a debut Wednesday in Bournemouth. Hampshire chased Derbyshire’s 250 but failed by just to a promising teenager from Reading, . Mike played in seven six runs when Mike was dismissed in the final over, having hit 98. His heroic effort more 2nd XI matches in 1968 when Hampshire awarded him a testimonial which earned him a unique Silver Medal for the best performance on the losing side. realized just over £4,000. This included a match at Hilsea hosted by Portsmouth 1963 was the centenary of the formation of the county club and Mike took his Grammar School. Having been capped in 1955 he was eligible for a full benefit ten place in the Hampshire side to play a strong MCC team in September to celebrate years later but that had never materialized. the occasion, scoring 16 and 21 and falling to England spinners and . He also caught fellow soccer/cricket player Willie Watson. He then began a two-year course for mature students at King Alfred’s College In his first Cup match of 1964, Mike top-scored again with 55 and seemed well in Winchester and when his former colleague Leo Harrison retired from the

16 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 17 Hampshire coaching position there was the possibility of Mike taking over. But courage, companionship and care for others – and for the games which become tragically, in April 1969, he went on a cricket tour of service bases in Germany with more than games when they provide opportunities – as they did for Mike - to the Pioneers Club and while returning from a match in the minibus, was seriously learn, develop and demonstrate true and fine character. injured in a crash after the driver fell asleep. Mike was not wearing a seatbelt and was flung out of the minibus. His neck was broken and his spine injured but had he been wearing a belt he would have died, as a tree trunk came straight through the windscreen and through his seat. He spent some weeks in German hospitals and has no memory of the event in which his friend Peter Faulkner lost a leg. He returned to the Millbank Neurological Unit in Southampton and made a gradual recovery although the injuries left him with permanent mobility problems.

His college course and related aspirations was over and while he did briefly work with Hampshire’s 2nd XI in 1970, he pursued two longer term opportunities: in charge of sport at the Merchant Navy School of Navigation at Warsash and commentating on cricket and football for Radio Solent.

At the age of 60 in 1993, Mike retired from his post at the School of Navigation when it amalgamated with Southampton Institute. Nonetheless he maintained many other activities. He played bowls at the Atherley Bowling Club in Southampton for some time, worked for the Sports Council for some years drug testing competitors in many sports, and was a volunteer in Southampton General Hospital Rehab Unit which had been so important in his recovery. He had a long- running involvement in the Cricketers Benevolent Fund, until 2007 he organised the annual reunion of Hampshire’s former players and he also ran Pompey’s 50:50 Club for players over the age of 50 with 50 Division One appearances. He also appeared regularly until very recently, at Hampshire’s as a commentator for the local Hospital Broadcasting service. Three Old Portmuthians who played for Hampshire meet at the celebration of OP ’s centenary at Hilsea in 2003. Mike Barnard, Richard McIlwaine and Jon Ayling. A few years ago, Mike was at Hilsea to celebrate Wally Hammond’s centenary. Hammond was the greatest of the five Portsmouth Grammar School cricketers – indeed he is one of the great English cricketers of all time. Like Mike Barnard, he was a top slip catcher and a soccer player although he appeared in just 20 matches for Bristol Rovers. Judged against the greatest players like Hammond, Mike Barnard was not an outstanding professional sportsman but he was good player.

He was also a very rare example of someone who realised every English schoolboy’s dream of his time; spending winter afternoons thumping sodden leather footballs through heavy mud and summer days in whites on green grass under cloudless skies, and in each case he did this for his team – his school, his Mike Barnard and Colin city and his county. But the real measure of the man came with the terrible injuries Cowdrey at the last ever day of that brought some clouds each day for the past 50 years because he met them with county cricket in Portsmouth, versus Kent in 2000.

18 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 19 Henry Michael (‘Mike’) Barnard Born in Portsmouth, 18 July 1933

Attended Portsmouth Grammar School, Jan 1945-April 1951

Hampshire County Cricket Club (1952-1966), County Cap 1955 276 First-Class Matches: 9,314 Runs - Average 22.07 16 Wickets - Average 35.18, 312 Catches 9 Limited Overs Matches: 315 Runs, Average 39.37, 8 Catches.

Portsmouth Football Club (1953-1959) 116 League Matches – 24 Goals, 7 Cup Matches – 2 Goals

Hampshire at Southampton, 1963.

Bibliography Allen D, Jenkinson N, Ricquier B 2003 100 Greats: Hampshire County Cricket Club. Altham H, Arlott J, Eagar EDR & Webber R 1957 Hampshire County Cricket: the Official History Cooper M, Neasom M, Robinson D 1984, Pompey: the History of Portsmouth Football Club Cricket Archive: http://www.cricketarchive.com/ Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire Handbook various years Hannam J 2008 Interview with Mike Barnard, Radio Portsmouth Evening News microfilm archive at the Portsmouth City Library Starr D 1997 “Mike Barnard, Member of the Elite Club” in the Hampshire Handbook 1997 pp 56-64 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac various

Acknowledgments Thanks are due to Hampshire Cricket (formerly Hampshire County Cricket Club), Portsmouth Football Club and The News, Portsmouth, for permission to reproduce photographs. School photographs are from the Portsmouth Grammar School Archive. Thanks also to Colin Farmery and David Selby, official historians of Portsmouth FC and Chelmsford FC.

Back page: Mike Barnard heading the ball in the match against Scunthorpe United in the FA Cup, 1954.

20 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 21