JBMAC
State Captain
Following interest shown in this player in another thread thought it worthy of one to featyre him...Read and enjoy
'Undoubtedly one of the finest bowlers of all time'. It would surprise many people to hear that this quote by Sir Plum Warner was about an American bowler. His name was John Barton King, and he was seen by many critics as the greatest bowler of in the world, and the greatest of his generation.
The story of the first ever test match in 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between the touring England team and the Australian eleven is well known. However, what is not so commonly known is the fact that the first ever international game between two countries took place at New York in 1844 between the USA and Canada. Cricket was primarily introduced to the USA by English immigrant mill-workers within the New England area. Cricket thrived within Philadelphia, which became the centre of game within the country from the 1890's through to the First World War.
The USA, or perhaps more correctly, the Philadelphian Gentlemen, undertook five tours of England and played tour games against most of the first class county teams. They recorded victories over many sides, including a number of defeats for Australian teams who played against them during their return from tours of England. Much of their success during this period can be traced back to one man, John Barton King.
John Barton King, or 'Bart' King as he became known, was born on the 19th of October, 1873. As with most of the children his age, Bart grew up playing the American national game of baseball in his home town of Philadelphia. He did not start playing cricket seriously until he was fifteen. He joined the Tioga Cricket Club, which was one of the major clubs within Philadelphia. The first recorded game that Bart played in was for the Tioga Juniors on 27th June, 1889. Throughout this season, Bart took 37 wickets for a total of 99 runs, a very clear sign of his potential. He started off as a batsmen, but the club quickly pushed him into bowling as even at age fifteen he was strongly built and over six foot in height. At this stage he primarily bowled just above medium pace, however over the next three years for Tioga Juniors he gradually built up his speed until he was considered to be genuinely fast.
The secret to Bart's bowling success can be largely traced to his ability to swing the ball in both directions. Whilst he was rated by his contemporaries as one of the first truly fast bowlers, his most dangerous ball was an inswinger. He referred to it as his 'angler' and he only used it rarely as he felt that the less batsmen saw it, the less chance there was for them to get used to it. His normal ball was an outswinger, but he commented that this merely increased the danger of his inswinger. It is said that Bart's ability to swing the ball was developed as the result of his early years as a baseball pitcher. The unique component of his action was that in the final strides of his run, he held the ball above his head in both hands, much in the manner of baseball pitcher. In spite of this, there were never any claims that he threw, unlike other fast bowlers of the day, and he renowned for his very high and pure action.
The years with Tioga Juniors provided Bart with an excellent grounding for the game, and in 1892 he became a permanent member of the Tioga senior team. Bart's career for Tioga continued until 1896, when the club disbanded. He then joined another major Philadelphia club Belmont, before he finally finished with the Philadelphia Cricket Club in 1916 after the Belmont club was dissolved in 1913. During this extended playing career in the USA, Bart took a total of 2, 088 wickets at an average of 10.47. In addition to this, he also scored 19,808 runs at a very good average of 36.47. His score of 344 for Belmont in a Hallifax Cup game against Merion in 1906 is still considered to be a record score within North American cricket. It is naturally difficult to determine precisely what this record represents, as obvious questions can be asked about the standard of cricket within the United States. It would appear from anecdotal evidence that the standard of Philadelphian cricket was at least the level of minor country cricket in England at the time, and therefore his record stands as one of merit.
Ignoring all arguments surrounding the relative strength of cricket in the USA during this period, it is Bart's performances in international games that remains the outstanding aspect of his career. He was first selected to play in an international match in 1892 for the Gentlemen of Philadelphia against the Gentlemen of Ireland during his initial season in the senior ranks with Tioga. Still only eighteen years old, Bart took 19 wickets at an average of 13.53 in the three game series. Following this success, he was selected for the USA in their annual match against Canada, and he responded by taking 3 for 6 and 2 for 15 in the USA's win.
The following year saw the Australian team play a series of games against the Philadelphian Gentlemen on their way home from England. It had been a long and arduous tour, and unwisely Australia agreed to play the Gentlemen on the day following the conclusion of their rough crossing of the Atlantic. Winning the toss, the Gentlemen smashed an impressive total of 525. Bart batted at no. 11, but he scored a very quick 36 to help the Gentlemen to top the 500 mark. The Australian team was very rusty, dropping numerous catches and misfielding regularly. The game was to go from bad to worse for the tourists however, as Bart ran through the Australian top order to take 5 for 78. Australia were bowled out for 199, and then shot out again for 258 after being forced to follow on. Australia had been beaten by an innings and 68 runs by the Philadelphian Gentlemen, with a nineteen year old Bart playing a pivotal role in the victory. Whilst Australia won the return game by six wickets, Bart had been noticed and his fame was starting to spread.
Bart toured England for the first time with the Philadelphian Gentlemen in 1897. This was the first major tour of England planned by an American team. It was to last two months, and was composed of fifteen first class games against county teams. The highlight of the tour was the game against the full-strength Sussex side. The Philadelphian Gentlemen batted first and totaled 216, thanks largely to a 106 run partnership between the team's best batsman, John Lester and Bart, who made 58. The Sussex innings started off with Bart opening the bowling with a wind blowing over his left shoulder. This made his 'angler' deadly, and in less than an hour, Sussex were bowled out for 46. Bart took 7 for 13, including the prized wicket of Ranji clean bowled first ball. Sussex followed on with 252, with Ranji redeeming himself with 74. Bart's figures in the second innings was 5 for 102, giving him twelve wickets for the match, which the Gentlemen went on to win by eight wickets. In all first class games on the tour, Bart took 72 wickets at an average of 24.20 and scored 441 runs at an average of 20.1. He received many offers to play county cricket, however he chose to return home instead.