Billy Barnes

HS Altham described him as "a sparkling player who batted as though he loved it" Barnes was a forceful batsman with strong offside shots, as well as a fine medium pacer whose bowling won at least two Test matches. An excellent close field, and an automatic first choice for England from the first test played on English soil to 1890. His finest hour was in the first Test ever played in Adelaide where his 134 on a rain-damaged wicket ensured the win for England. In the next Test of that series, at Melbourne, he bowled England into a 2-0 lead with second-innings figures of 38.3-26-31-6. At Sydney two years later he did likewise - 6 for 28 off 46 (four-ball) overs, a match in which England were skittled for 45 on the first morning and still won. Legend has it that Barnes once made a match-saving century for Nottinghamshire after having more than one shandy too many. Appropriately, he later became landlord of a pub, and was only 46 when he died in Nottingham in 1899.
Dave Liverman