Nottinghamshire's Bodyline Captain.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

On my visit to Trent Bridge for the last county championship match of the season I purchased a book from the club shop and have just finished reading it. It concerns the controversial Nottinghamshire captain of the 1920s and early 1930s Arthur Carr, who was very much involved in the controversial 'Bodyline' bowling practised by his two fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce.

                                           (Picture from the Cricketer Magazine)

As you will see the book was written by Peter Wynne- Thomas, who sadly died in July this year after forty years as the Nottinghamshire county archivist and one of the leading historians of the game. He was a prolific author and this volume must have been one of his last. It tells the fascinating story of a larger than life character who captained both Nottinghamshire and England and whose life story bears many resemblances to that of Yorkshire's Brian Close.

Both had several brushes with the cricket authorities and both were removed from the England captaincy in controversial circumstances. Both were great favourites with their fellow players and county supporters, but not always with committee men, and again both lost their positions as county captains amid controversies. Indeed the similarity continues with both men being keen followers of horse racing and both being rather accident prone drivers.

Arthur Carr captain of Nottinghamshire and England.

As one would expect the book is very well researched with details of Carr's early life. He was born in Surrey as a member of a wealthy stockbroking family. He had a brief stay at Eton but was dismissed for smoking and betting and transferred to Sherborne School in Dorset where his sporting prowess was given full reign. Carr's family moved to Nottinghamshire in 1906 due to his father's interest in horses and the Leicestershire hunting scene.

This made Carr eligible for Nottinghamshire due to residency and he made his first appearance for them in 1910. After service throughout the first world war, Carr, who of course played as an amateur, was appointed county captain of Nottinghamshire for the 1919 season. Unlike other counties they fielded a full team of ten professionals and Carr soon won them over with his adventurous style of captaincy. He remained in that position until the end of his career in 1934.

His dashing style of batsmanship also brought him to the England selectors notice and he was made captain of England for the home series against Australia in 1926. He was taken ill during the fourth test and to his disappointment was replaced by Percy Chapman. He was called up again as captain against South Africa for two tests in 1929, but never achieved his ambition of captaining England in Australia.

He did however lead Nottinghamshire to the County Championship in 1929 thus breaking the monopoly of Lancashire and Yorkshire and of course had much to do with the development of Larwood and Voce as a dangerous pair of opening bowlers. Mention is made of the meeting between Jardine, Carr and the two bowlers in London shortly before the infamous 'Bodyline' tour of 1932-33 when apparently the plans were laid as the basis of dismissing the all conquering batting of Bradman.

Nottinghamshire in Carr's last season of 1934.

Much is then made of the controversies after the tour which ran into county cricket with several counties, particularly Lancashire, threatening not to play Nottingham if such tactics were employed. Carr was at the centre of all this and to some extent it was no surprise that he underwent a heart attack which virtually ended his cricketing career in 1934.

After the second world war he retired to live in Yorkshire near to the racing stables of Middleham. He was not seen at Trent Bridge for many years due to the acrimony of his later years with the county, but eventually did return in the 1950s when most of his adversaries from the past had passed away. He eventually died while clearing snow from his cottage in West Witton in the winter of 1963 at the age of 69.

This is a wonderful book with details of the day to day action of county cricket from the inter-war period and the off field machinations which highlight Carr's contempt for the landed gentry who were running the game. Highly regarded by his professionals, with whom he regularly shared a drink, and a swashbuckling batsman often compared to the great hitter Gilbert Jessop when at his best.