A rare appearance on Twitter this week prompted me to remember one of the all time greats of Yorkshire cricket - Schofield Haigh. Someone recalled that today is the anniversary of his death in 1921 just short of his fiftieth birthday.
I call him the third man as his career was overshadowed by the two greatest of all Yorkshire cricketers, George Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes. All three were from the Huddersfield area, Hirst and Rhodes from Kirkheaton and Haigh from Berry Brow. Haigh, although best known as a bowler, could be classed as an all rounder with four first class centuries to his name during his eighteen year career, when his batting skills were not often required in such a strong side.
However he took over 2000 wickets and is third in the all time Yorkshire wicket takers list, behind of course his two colleagues Hirst and Rhodes. He played on and off for England between 1898 and 1912 but never really made his mark at international level, although he was good enough to be one of Wisden's cricketers of the year in 1901.
Haigh's trademark as a cricketer was his cheerful demeanour, apparently he always seemed to be smiling despite being in the shadow of his two great team mates. In fact he often came top of the bowling averages as his wickets cost a little less than those of his more famous contemporaries.
It is hard to assess what type of bowler he was as he started off as a quick bowler but with rather a slight build this proved too much for him and he became a medium pacer, with variations of slower and quicker balls, and able to spin the ball back from the off. Perhaps a comparison with Bob Appleyard might be somewhere near, although hard to compare from so many years ago.
He added a quick yorker to his ability to bring the ball back from the off and once rather fortunately dismissed W.G. Grace, who edged an attempted fast yorker which turned into a full toss to wicket keeper David Hunter, who always thought Haigh the most difficult bowler to keep to due to his variations. Apparently this dismissal rather upset George Hirst who had been trying for years to take the wicket of the great man.
He was devastating on sticky wickets and once took 14-43 against Hampshire in one day's play. His most prolific seasons were probably 1900 with 163 wickets and 1902 with 158. He had his ups and downs and was left out of the Test team for four years after a poor performance in 1905. However he returned to form with a vengeance with 96 wickets at 11.41 when Yorkshire won the championship in 1912.
For many years he and George Hirst shared the record Yorkshire ninth wicket partnership with a stand of 192 against Surrey at Bradford in 1898, until this was overtaken, also against Surrey, by Bresnan and Gillespie with 246 at the Oval in 2007.
After his career with Yorkshire he became cricket coach at Winchester School, where he played a part in the early cricketing life of one Douglas Jardine, who perhaps did not play his cricket with a smile on his face. He also umpired games at the Scarborough Festival before his tragic early death in early 1921 as a result of a stroke.
Schofield Haigh deserves to be remembered not only for his considerable achievements on the field but for his cheerful manner. It is very rare indeed to see any first class cricketer with a smile on his face these days.
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