John Barnwell (cricketer)

Charles John Patrick Barnwell (23 June 1914 at Stoke-on-Trent – 4 September 1998 at Fivehead, Somerset) played first-class cricket for Somerset as an amateur player before and after the Second World War.

John Barnwell
Personal information
Full nameCharles John Patrick Barnwell
Born(1914-06-23)23 June 1914
Stoke-on-Trent, England
Died4 September 1998(1998-09-04) (aged 84)
Fivehead, Somerset, England
BattingRight-handed batsman
BowlingRight-arm medium
RoleBatsman
RelationsLML Barnwell, nephew
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1935-48Somerset
First-class debut12 June 1935 Somerset v Gloucestershire
Last First-class1 July 1948 Somerset v Lancashire
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 69
Runs scored 1592
Batting average 15.16
100s/50s -/5
Top score 83
Balls bowled 52
Wickets -
Bowling average -
5 wickets in innings -
10 wickets in match -
Best bowling -
Catches/stumpings 18/-
Source: CricketArchive, 22 Sept 2008

John Barnwell was a right-handed batsman who, in a team with a large number of all-rounders, frequently batted as low as No 8 or 9 in the order. He sometimes captained the team in the absence of the regular captains Reggie Ingle and Bunty Longrigg. He was also known as a good fielder in the covers.[1]

Educated at Repton, Barnwell first appeared for Somerset in 1935, and played 11 matches the following year, though with a highest score of 38 he made little impact.[2] In 1937, he played only seven games, but passed 50 for the first time with 73 in the match against Gloucestershire at Taunton.[3]

In 1938 and 1939, and again in the first post-war season of 1946, Barnwell appeared in more than half Somerset's first-class matches, although he failed to top 400 runs in any season. In 1938, batting at No 9, he made an unbeaten 49 and shared a partnership for the eighth wicket of 143 with Longrigg which was a county record until beaten by Viv Richards and Ian Botham in 1983.[4] His best season was 1939, when he made 396 runs, including his career-best of 83 against Hampshire at Taunton.[5]

After the 1946 season, Barnwell was allegedly offered the captaincy of Somerset, but turned it down,[1] and appeared for the county only once more, in 1948.

His career outside cricket was as a farmer, breeding silver foxes for the fur trade.[1] According to another account by the same author, he "personified the 'old school', a debonair amateur... Rightly proud of his nimbleness in the covers and the four boundaries in a row he once audaciously took off Voce at Trent Bridge."[6]

His nephew, Michael Barnwell, played cricket for Cambridge University, Somerset and Eastern Province in the 1960s and 1970s.

References
  1. David Foot. Sunshine, Sixes and Cider: A History of Somerset Cricket (1986 ed.). David and Charles. pp. 134–135. ISBN 0-7153-8890-8.
  2. "First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by John Barnwell". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  3. "Somerset v Gloucestershire". www.cricketarchive.com. 15 May 1937. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  4. "Gloucestershire v Somerset". www.cricketarchive.com. 30 July 1938. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  5. "Somerset v Hampshire". www.cricketarchive.com. 1 July 1939. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  6. David Foot and Ivan Ponting. Somerset Cricket:A Post-war Who's Who (1993 ed.). Redcliffe Press, Bristol. p. 13. ISBN 1-872971-23-7.
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