MIKE BARNARD
‘good at games’
by Dave Allen
The Portsmouth Grammar School
Monograph series No. 22
MIKE BARNARD - ‘good at games’
During the first half of the twentieth century it was possible, if not common for
talented English sportsmen to earn a wage playing football in the winter and
cricket in the summer. Neither of these professions was especially well paid, and an
ability to play professionally at both sports ensured a full wage over twelve months
of the year.
Mike Barnard, like his contemporaries such as Arthur Milton, Denis Compton,
Willie Watson and fellow Hampshire cricketers Ted Drake, Henry Horton, Arthur
Holt 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
England, 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 County Cricket 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 Havant
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 Barnard when he played for the Rugby Under 15 Colts, 1948
Front Cover: Mike Barnard batting, c 1960.
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
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
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.
(Barnard is seated on the ground on the right.)
“used his excellent soccer footwork to great advantage”. By the following spring
he was praised for being an “unflurried” full-back with “excellent” positioning,“a
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
colours in 1950.
His impact as a cricketer was less well recorded until 1948. While Bradman’s
‘Invincibles’ took England by storm Mike, still young enough for the Colts, was the
First XI’s “most consistent” batsman with “very attractive strokes”. As a bowler he
could “turn the ball both ways” and was, of course,“quick in the field”. In 1949, the
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
playing fields would be crucial in Mike’s adult life.
By the following summer he was praised for his “wide range of shots, usually
executed with power and elegance”. He was also a “very dangerous change bowler
and an excellent fielder” although he was warned not to “hook off leg stump” too
early in his innings.
In 1949 he averaged over 60 for Hampshire Schools and he headed their averages
again in 1950 and was third in the bowling averages at 10.3. His PGS colleague
P Bishop captained that side. Meanwhile, the School XI won nine and drew five of
their 16 matches and it is interesting to note the relatively low scores; in a number
of games neither side passed three figures. Mike progressed from the school and
county school sides to England Schools and also to Hampshire’s Club & Ground
2 The Portsmouth Grammar School
Portsmouth Grammar School First XI, 1950.
(Barnard is in the front row, second from left.)
and 2nd XI with their new coach Arthur Holt – another man who played cricket
and soccer (for Southampton FC).
He also played rugby for the county’s Under-19 side. His father told the
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
Havant United where he was spotted again and went via Gosport into top-flight
football. In May 1951, at the end of his school career and approaching his 18th
birthday, he signed as an amateur with Pompey, having already joined Hampshire
County Cricket Club.
Mike passed his School Certificate but as a grammar school boy of average
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
digs with Hampshire’s groundsman Ernie Knights and his wife Bella. On the
groundstaff, his duties meant working alongside Ernie and his small team,
maintaining the ground and general facilities at Northlands Road. Over the next
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
Lance Corporal in the Combined Cadet Force (CCF).
When he resumed his professional football career in 1953, Pompey were trying to
develop their own players to replace the recent Champions like Scoular, Froggat
and Reid although Jimmy Dickinson remained throughout Mike’s career. The
footballer’s maximum wage was £14 per week, rising to £20 by the end of the
Monograph No. 22 3
decade and broken early in the 1960s as Fulham’s Johnny Haynes became the first
to earn £100.
As a cricketer, Mike had already made his Hampshire debut with another
newcomer Guy Jewell in a three-day match in 1952 against Glamorgan in Swansea.
Mike was still in the Army but injuries had left Hampshire short of players and he
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
overs, although he did hold his first catch. Throughout his career he would hold
many more – and, unusually, at better than one per match.
Mike had to wait more than twelve months for his next chance in a match in
his home city against Warwickshire but his ‘pair’ (two successive ducks) meant a
third successive first class duck and a return to the 2nd XI. A few months later,
just before Christmas 1953, his picture appeared in the local newspaper with the
caption informing readers that his “recent form for Pompey reserves had been
very promising”. In a 3-0 victory over Millwall Reserves he scored twice and was
identified as “the best” of Pompey’s forwards.
On the 2 January Mike played again as Pompey beat Huddersfield 5-2 and he
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
Bromwich Albion who finished runners-up to Wolves. Mike had scored six goals
in 19 matches and Pompey finished in 14th place after which he returned to
Southampton for the new cricket season.
Mike played initially in Club & Ground matches until he arrived at the County
Ground on the morning of Saturday 22 May to act as twelfth man for the first
team against Middlesex. But with the start approaching, Hampshire’s veteran
off-spinner Charlie Knott – an amateur – rang in to apologise that work had
detained him and he withdrew from the team. Hampshire stuck with their original
batting order but were dismayed to be reduced to 48-8 before Mike came to the
wicket and helped to double the total, top-scoring with 39. In the second innings
his undefeated 24 was second highest and although Hampshire lost, Mike had
enjoyed his first taste of cricketing success at county level.
Courtesy of The News, Portsmouth
Around Portsmouth over Christmas 1953, the King’s Theatre offered Cinderella,
while Babes in the Wood was at the Empire; there was a “Carnival Dance” at the
Savoy and the Greyhound stadium opened for racing on the morning of Boxing
Day. On Christmas Day, Pompey fans were offered a coach trip to London for just
2/6d (about 13p) where they could see their team play Tottenham Hotspur and, as
was traditional in those days, the two teams met again on the following day where
the fans could see Mike’s debut as a twenty-year-old at inside left. Pompey had
begun the season with four defeats but were improving when Mike appeared and
a Fratton Park crowd of 36,667 watched the two sides share a 1-1 draw. The local
correspondent suggested that Mike needed “a little more devil in his shooting” but
that he was “quick” and “opened up some promising moves”.
4 The Portsmouth Grammar School
Mike Barnard and Henry Horton
walking out to bat at Portsmouth,
1954.
Mike Barnard heading the
ball in the match against
Scunthorpe United in the
FA Cup, 1954.
Hampshire then played a two-day
friendly mid-week match against the
Royal Navy at Portsmouth. They selected
some good batsmen but few bowlers,
so Mike took the new ball with Roy
Marshall with little success. Hampshire
followed on and only a good innings
from Neville Rogers prevented defeat.
The county side stayed in Portsmouth to
entertain the touring Pakistan side on the
following Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.
The tourists had some good players and
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,
but was dismissed by Fazal Mahmood for
just two runs. Both sides struggled and
batted slowly but Hampshire took a lead
of 22 and early on the Tuesday morning
Mike came to the wicket again at 71-3 to
play his first major innings.
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 not out
and then asked to bowl. He dismissed both openers including the great Hanif
Mohammad, taking 2-18. Mike took 10 first-class wickets in that season and
three more in the following year. His career victims included England batsmen
Tom Graveney, Ted Dexter 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
he played 30 times in a Pompey side that finished 3rd – their best position in the
previous 60 years. The marvellous period began at Old Trafford on 21 August where
Pompey won 3-1. Meanwhile his cricket colleagues were at Cardiff on the same
day and still had three matches to play. Even in the 1950s, balancing these two
sporting careers was not simple but Mike will have been happy to score his first
goal of the season four days later, as a crowd in excess of 35,000 saw Pompey beat
Huddersfield 4-2.
Courtesy of The News, Portsmouth
Mike missed just one match until Pompey’s surprising FA Cup defeat against
Bristol Rovers on 8 January. 8,000 fans travelled from Portsmouth but the lower
league side enjoyed one of the day’s upsets. Mike did appear in the following
match against Aston Villa at Fratton Park but with Pompey trailing again, a “freak
fog” hit the city; traffic slowed considerably, Portsmouth Harbour was closed and
Pompey were reprieved as the match was abandoned. Mike then returned to the
6 The Portsmouth Grammar School
Pompey training
session – Mike
Barnard and Jimmy
Dickinson (centre)
The Hampshire team of 1955 that finished third in the Championship.
reserves for a spell But he was back a few weeks later. Pompey’s inconsistency was
apparent as they won three and lost three and Mike missed the final six games.
Pompey were level with Wolves on 48 points with Champions Chelsea four points
ahead in the days of two points for a win. Chelsea’s manager was Ted Drake, who
had played 27 cricket matches for Hampshire from 1931-1936.
This was a remarkable period for Mike and his teammates in both sports. On 2
May, Pompey ended their season at Bramall Lane, somewhat disappointed not to
have won the title. Exactly four months later, Hampshire beat Worcestershire by 79
runs at Bournemouth and celebrated unreservedly, finishing in the same position
as Pompey – third - for the first time in their history. They followed the two great
sides, Surrey and Yorkshire and had the most wins and points in the club’s history.
When they defeated the Champions Surrey at Bournemouth the Portsmouth
Evening News suggested it was “probably the greatest day” in Hampshire’s 60year County Championship 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
innings. Hampshire batted on the Saturday, lost their first wicket at 85 but were
then reduced to 93-5 until Mike and Leo Harrison added 51 to help Hampshire to
224. On the second day, Roy Marshall and Peter Sainsbury demolished Yorkshire
twice with Mike holding the winning catch. He also appeared in a tied match
Monograph No. 22 7
against Sussex at Eastbourne – only the third in Hampshire’s history – and
contributed 75 in an innings victory over Middlesex. HS Altham, the club’s
Chairman said that while Mike was “not classic in technique” he “always played
enterprising and attractive cricket” and he celebrated Mike’s running between
the wickets. He was just 22 and he was rewarded by Hampshire with his county
cap and an improved contract. He must have felt that his sporting dreams were
coming true.
Having started so promisingly in 1956 he managed only 600 runs at an average
of 20 and he played his last cricket on 3 August returning to Pompey to start the
season with a defeat at Newcastle. In September 1956, live rock & roll came to
Portsmouth for the first time with Tony Crombie and his Rockets appearing at the
Theatre Royal. Mike always preferred swing, the great crooners and jazz singers
including Lena Horne and Count Basie. He still recalls the great pleasure he and
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.
Courtesy of The News, Portsmouth
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.
In truth Mike never quite fulfilled that early promise, except as a slip catcher. By
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.
A clear indication of this can be found in the fact that having reached his halfcentury he only went on to his century in 11.5% of his innings. His Hampshire
contemporaries all had better conversion rates, with Rogers on 29%, Marshall 27%,
Livingstone 25%, Gray and Horton 20%, Rayment 15% and his swashbuckling
skipper Ingleby-Mackenzie at 16.5%. That this statistic might constitute the
measure of true greatness is confirmed by Bradman’s figure of 63% - more
hundreds than fifties – while the great English batsmen of Mike’s generation were
Peter May with 40% and Colin Cowdrey with 32%.
But in one vital aspect of the game Mike stood with the best and that was as a slip
catcher. He held 312 catches in 276 matches – an average of 1.13 catches every
match. Of his teammates only Peter Sainsbury and his first captain Desmond Eagar
caught at better than one-per-match and at other times only a few Hampshire
regulars can match that achievement: Greenidge, Maru, Richards, Terry, DF Walker
and Wynyard.
8 The Portsmouth Grammar School
Pompey team, 1956. (Barnard seated second from right)
Manchester United’s ‘Busby Babes’ were the Champions, while Pompey finished
only four points clear of relegation and their inconsistency was clear in two
matches in which Mike appeared. On 6 October they beat Aston Villa 5-1 but seven
days later Wolves thrashed them 6-0. Mike played in 12 of the first 14 matches,
showing his best form but returning to the north-east on 27 October, he showed
good form and scored a goal in a thrilling 3-3 draw but then suffered serious
cartilage and ligament damage from a violent two-footed tackle by Sunderland’s
Billy Elliott – no dancer he. In the days before permitted substitutes, Mike hobbled
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 Nottingham Forest
when Pompey lost their goalkeeper, Mike utilised his slip-catching skills and took
over for the rest of the match.
Fortunately he was fit when the 1957 cricket season arrived. After a poor start,
he enjoyed his most consistent period with five half-centuries and an improved
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
Hampshire for 66, winning by an innings in two days and before the scheduled
visit of HM the Queen as part of local celebrations. The teams played a friendly and
were presented to Her Majesty.
Once again Mike departed for football at the start of August, missing the final nine
cricket matches, but he played in just three matches before returning and scoring
in an extraordinary 4-7 defeat at Chelsea on Christmas Day! On the following
day he scored again as Pompey beat the same opponents 3-0. There were three
further spells during an in-and-out season in which Pompey narrowly avoided
defeat, finishing in 20th place and avoiding relegation by goal difference. At the
end of March, Mike played in a remarkable 5-4 victory over Arsenal, the first of
three consecutive victories but after this they took just one point from their final
six matches. Despite this, Pompey could now claim to have spent longer than any
other side in the top division without relegation – but that record would last only
one further season.
If 1955 was a season of high achievement for Mike’s two sides, 1958 was one of
transition and marked contrasts in the fortunes of his two clubs. Desmond Eagar
retired at the end of the 1957 season and Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie replaced him as
Hampshire’s captain and took the side to new heights. At Fratton Park, Pompey’s
narrow escape from relegation led to the departure of manager Eddie Lever just as
Ingleby-Mackenzie led Mike and his teammates out for the first time on a sodden
Bradford ground in May 1958. Lever was replaced by Freddie Cox, destined for a
brief and disastrous spell as Pompey’s manager and one that would end Mike’s
league career at the age of 25.
10 The Portsmouth Grammar School
The Hampshire team of 1958 that finished runners-up in the Championship.
(Barnard standing, second from left)
But before those deep disappointments, came the very wet yet wonderfully exciting
summer of 1958 when Hampshire promised to win their first Championship before
settling for the runners-up spot to Surrey’s seventh consecutive title. There was
little promise of greater things at the start of the season as Hampshire began with
a northern tour and three consecutive defeats until a win against Worcestershire
got them going. Mike scored inconsistently although he picked the worst decade
in which to specialise as a county batsman. Wickets were uncovered, many of the
outgrounds produced unreliable surfaces and there were some very fine bowlers
in county cricket including Bedser, Trueman, Statham, Tyson, Bailey, Laker, Lock,
Wardle and – at Hampshire – Derek Shackleton. As a consequence, scores were
considerably lower than they are in the modern game. For example in early June,
Hampshire dismissed Middlesex for 149 but lost, while in the following matches
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
to 265 all out – sufficient to ensure an innings victory over neighbours Sussex.
Sadly in mid-August came the game that more than any other took the title from
Hampshire’s grasp. They had drawn the previous two matches before playing
Derbyshire at Burton-on-Trent on a damp and often dangerous club ground. Mike
held his catches as the home side were dismissed for 74 and 107, yet astonishingly
these scores were sufficient to ensure victory by more than 100 runs as Hampshire
were bundled out for 23 and 55. Mike scored 5 and 16, the highest in each innings
and possibly the lowest aggregate ever to claim such an achievement! In the end
Hampshire won just one of their last eight matches but second place was a fine
Monograph No. 22 11
achievement. During 1958, the county’s greatest batsman Phil Mead died. He
scored more runs for Hampshire than any man has ever scored for any one firstclass side and in the 1920s held the record score for England v Australia. Yet it is
perhaps a measure of the life of the professional cricketer in that period, that he
died blind and intestate, leaving just £390 of assets.
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 – transferlisting Mike Barnard. His first match was a 2-0 defeat by Newcastle in late
September but he played just three matches after appearing in a 6-0 defeat at West
Ham on 20 December. He missed the match against Leeds with influenza but
returned for a vital relegation battle against Manchester City when Pompey, 2-0 in
the lead, conceded four goals in eight minutes and lost 4-3. Mike’s last appearance
was a 5-1 defeat at home to Newcastle on 11 March. Pompey did not win after 22
November 1958, lost the last nine matches, conceded 112 goals, finished bottom
and were relegated. Mike’s last competitive match in a Pompey shirt was on 25
April 1959 for the reserves in a 2-1 victory over Cardiff.
Mike had moved home to Southampton – his wife was from that city - and they
showed interest in signing him. However over the glorious summer of 1959,
Pompey allowed his registration to lapse and he was offered comparable wages to
move into non-league football. With a future career in mind, he was able to gain
some teaching experience near his new home rather than training full-time during
the week. Back in February 1956 the Evening News had reported “Barnard Coaches
Young Cricketers” with a photograph of him at the city’s RN Barracks Gymnasium
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
Hampshire in their first three Cup Finals.
In September 1959 Mike signed for Chelmsford City of the Southern League
managed by former Pompey player Harry Ferrier, alongside former Pompey
colleagues Len Phillips and Gordon Dale. He was top goalscorer in that first
season and played in 129 matches from 1959-1963, scoring 43 goals. One notable
early appearance for his new club was in March 1960 when he interrupted his
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
season before retiring from football in 1964.
After the excitement of the 1958 cricket season, Mike was unable to capitalize on
the fine sunshine of the following year. In the first year of the inter-county 2nd XI
competition he was to be found quite often as a senior member of that side, while
12 The Portsmouth Grammar School
Denis Baldry who had moved from Middlesex and Ray Flood from the New Forest
played more regularly for Hampshire’s first team. Mike managed only 316 runs in
nine first team matches until on 26 August at Bournemouth he scored his fourth
century, 128 against the Indian tourists. The county’s Handbook observed that he
played a “fine innings” and “was hard to recognize as the same player who had
struggled for so long”.
There was always competition among Hampshire’s aspiring middle order batsmen
during Mike’s career but Ray Pitman and Alan Rayment had now retired, Ray Flood
would hardly play any more and Baldry never replicated his splendid 1959 form.
However, Antiguan Danny Livingstone established himself at number four, so
Mike still had to fight for a regular place and in 1960 – as Hampshire disappointed
– he managed just two half-centuries in 23 matches and averaged less than 20 per
innings. While he enjoyed his new and more varied winter career, there was no
particular reason to suppose in the early months of 1961 that his greatest days were
ahead.
Neither was there any reason to think this as his season began so poorly – even
with a half century on his home ground against Lancashire he managed just
154 runs in 10 innings and a Whitsun ‘pair’ against Kent saw him replaced by
Baldry, who began by top-scoring in Yorkshire. This was a vital innings as the
northern county, champions for the previous two years, had won every match until
Hampshire held them to a draw. Baldry’s reward was a regular place in the side
through June and July, while Mike played for the 2nd XI, except for an innings of 75
again on home turf, in a friendly match against Oxford University.
Mike replaced his injured captain against Sussex at Portsmouth as ‘Butch’ White’s
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
called “crisis” point and on 12 August Mike replaced Dennis Baldry on the trip to
Derby. After his fine start, the latter had averaged only around 17 runs per innings
and potential Champions needed more. At Derby, Hampshire batted first and Mike
joined Horton on 132-4. The pair added 91 with Mike’s 45 a useful contribution
towards a good total and on the third day, victory.
This was the beginning of the most important three weeks in the club’s history and
Mike Barnard would enjoy the finest and most significant run of his entire sporting
career. Hampshire returned to their headquarters where Warwickshire enjoyed a
perfect Southampton wicket, declaring at 324-9 and when Hampshire slumped to
101-4 the visitors would have anticipated victory. Wickets fell elsewhere, but Mike
Barnard, with only one Championship century in his career, and wicketkeeper Leo
Monograph No. 22 13
Harrison added 101 in an hour. The Times 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 Trent Bridge. Hampshire
returned to Southampton and brief respite with a friendly against the Australian
tourists who had won the Ashes 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
visit Bournemouth in the last match of the season but Hampshire knew that if they
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
Hampshire to declare, while Warwickshire also set a target and immediately had
Yorkshire struggling at 59-5.
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,
confident whippy strokes to leg”. He added that the stand with Sainsbury was of
“unmistakable Championship quality”. The Times reported
A month ago, Barnard was out of the Hampshire side with no immediate prospect of regaining his place. Now he is finding batting as simple a matter as earlier it was desperately difficult.
14 The Portsmouth Grammar School
Hampshire 1961 – the County Champions
(Barnard standing, second from right)
Celebrating the winning of the
Championship on the balcony at
Bournemouth, 1st September 1961.
Celebrations in the dressing room.
In 1961, local newspapers were often the best source of latest cricket scores,
publishing three or four editions each day, so many supporters will have seen the
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
the title in the best possible way and, just as Yorkshire-born Horner had frustrated
his home county in the morning, so it was Hampshire’s Yorkshireman, Derek
Shackleton, who produced the crucial performance. Derbyshire had three-anda-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
Monograph No. 22 15
boundary off the bowling of Peter Sainsbury and Hampshire were Champions. As
it happened, Yorkshire finished well short of victory but that was of no consequence
to the Hampshire team and supporters.
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
the 1961 Champions. Yorkshire arrived the next day and with the task done and
the pressure off, Mike fell to Illingworth without scoring but those 380 runs at an
average of 63.6 constituted the best and most important spell of his career. On the
following morning Brian Chapman in the Daily Mirror suggested that this great
prize “came home to its own heart and birthplace” – a reference reaching back
two centuries to the legendary Hambledon Club. There were no Hambledon men
in the side of 1961 but Mike Barnard (Portsmouth) and Alan Wassell (Fareham)
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
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, limited overs cricket was seen as occasional light entertainment,
interrupting the serious business of the Championship and it would be almost ten
more years before that form reached the international stage.
As a consequence, Hampshire’s baptism against Derbyshire was on a May
Wednesday in Bournemouth. Hampshire chased Derbyshire’s 250 but failed by just
six runs when Mike was dismissed in the final over, having hit 98. His heroic effort
earned him a unique Silver Medal for the best performance on the losing side.
1963 was the centenary of the formation of the county club and Mike took his
place in the Hampshire side to play a strong MCC team in September to celebrate
the occasion, scoring 16 and 21 and falling to England spinners Fred Titmus and
Tony Lock. He also caught fellow soccer/cricket player Willie Watson.
In his first Cup match of 1964, Mike top-scored again with 55 and seemed well
16 The Portsmouth Grammar School
suited to this new short form of the game. Had it arrived ten years earlier he might
have maintained his bowling as well and become a key figure in Hampshire’s
limited-overs side. He also scored his last first-class century that season against the
Australians - a third century against a touring side.
By 1965 he was opening the batting with Roy Marshall and was top-scorer again
as they lost their first cup quarter-final at Edgbaston. In the following year, Barry
Reed arrived as a new opening batsman and Mike, now 33, struggled in the
Championship scoring just one half-century and decided the time had come to
retire. Nonetheless, he featured in the first Hampshire side to reach a cup semifinal and finished with a limited-overs average of almost 40. At the time, this figure
was almost 10 runs per innings better than any other Hampshire batsman.
Hampshire 1966 – Mike’s final year (standing third from right)
Mike also played in three of these shorter matches for Hampshire against the
International Cavaliers at Titchbourne Park – in 1965, 1966 and post-retirement
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
XI, including five in 1967 when the county won the 2nd XI title including a debut
to a promising teenager from Reading, Gordon Greenidge. Mike played in seven
more 2nd XI matches in 1968 when Hampshire awarded him a testimonial which
realized just over £4,000. This included a match at Hilsea hosted by Portsmouth
Grammar School. Having been capped in 1955 he was eligible for a full benefit ten
years later but that had never materialized.
He then began a two-year course for mature students at King Alfred’s College
in Winchester and when his former colleague Leo Harrison retired from the
Monograph No. 22 17
Hampshire coaching position there was the possibility of Mike taking over. But
tragically, in April 1969, he went on a cricket tour of service bases in Germany with
the Pioneers Club and while returning from a match in the minibus, was seriously
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.
courage, companionship and care for others – and for the games which become
more than games when they provide opportunities – as they did for Mike - to
learn, develop and demonstrate true and fine character.
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 longrunning 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 Rose Bowl as a commentator
for the local Hospital Broadcasting service.
Three Old Portmuthians who played for Hampshire meet at the celebration of OP Wally
Hammond’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
city and his county. But the real measure of the man came with the terrible injuries
that brought some clouds each day for the past 50 years because he met them with
18 The Portsmouth Grammar School
Mike Barnard and Colin
Cowdrey at the last ever day of
county cricket in Portsmouth,
versus Kent in 2000.
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, Isle of Wight 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