John Thomas ‘Jack’ Hearne. Middlesex & England 1888-1923. ‘A.E. Stoddart’s Tour of Australia 1897/98’. The Tour Diaries of J.T. Hearne’. The diaries, written in pencil in a firm and reasonably clear hand, in two limp board exercise books, cover the majority of the tour but concludes on Wednesday 12th January, it is not known if Hearne wrote no more or whether there may have been a third album which is not known to the vendor, and are entertaining and cover the tour both on and off the field throwing additional light on a tour which was very much less successful for Stoddart and his team than the victorious visit in 1894/95. The diaries reveal Hearne to be a determined cricketer, an honest man with a great sense of humour and an observant eye who was not averse to the occasional modest ‘indulgence’ off the field. The diaries begin with the tour party, with the exception of Ranjitsinhji, who joined the ship in Naples, departing St Pancras station on the 17th September 1897 ‘Left St Pancras. Special train, large crowd who gave us a capital send-off. Joined S.S. Ormuz at Tilbury’.... left Plymouth at 6pm Sunday’. the diary then covers the voyage, describing the weather, conditions, meals, sights ‘Saw any quantity of whales, just off Cape St Vincent’, playing cards and deck games, concerts, calling in at Gibraltar, Naples, Port Said, Colombo ‘people fearfully disappointed at our not playing a match’, crossing the equator, cricket practice ‘All of us seem fit except Ranji who is still a little seedy. Jack Broad got rare crack on the nose with a ball, knocked him out for a moment... heated discussions to how many runs should be given for a hit overboard, arrival at Albany , first sight of Australia ‘All boys delighted to set foot on shore again’, on to Largs Bay, Adelaide on the 24th October ‘Enormous crowds waiting for a glimpse of Ranji. All Ranji- nobody else thought of (absurb, I think with such men as Stoddy, Tom Richardson, Tom Hayward)’... Reception at Town Hall, Mayor toasted English team. Fine reception by 2,000 people... Went to the Oval to practice, lots of people there ‘to see Ranji’. Very pretty ground and good stand accommodation’ ... ‘Bruised finger, George Hirst hit it’... commenced match v South Australia... ‘Clem Hill played a fine innings of 200no’... ‘Stoddart ordered to keep to his bed, MacLaren Captain’... ‘lots of comment on [Ernie]Jones’s delivery. Consider it the most outrageous thing’... ‘Ranji 137not out, Mason played well for 79’ ... ‘Ranji very weak after play, attack of asthma’... ‘Jim Phillips no-balled Jones for chucking’. The team left for Melbourne on Monday, November 1st and the next day attended the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse and commenced tour match v Victoria on the 6th November ‘Capital attendance 17,000. Stand and ground revealed a grand sight indeed from the field and beats anything I have ever seen at a cricket match’... ‘I finished with five wickets for 61. The team arrived in Sydney on the 11th November for match against N.S.W. the next day ‘Trumper made a great catch in the long field dismissing Hayward’... After winning again they played tour matches in Newcastle, Glenn Innes and a joint team New South Wales & Queensland, drawing the first and third and winning the second leaving on the train to travel to Brisbane. England scored a record 636 in the match with MacLaren making 181, Druce 126 and Hirst 75, match drawn. The team then moved on to Toomwoomba and Armidale for three one day tour matches before the first Test to be held on the 13th December. Events leading up to the first Test did not augur well for the England team. Ranji had been ill, the captain Stoddart had news of his mothers death and it kept raining...!. ‘Began first Test match, on most perfect wicket, MacLaren made 109 and Ranji 175 totalling 551, Australia all out 237, Hearne 5-42 ‘Feel very strong and well like bowling for a week’...Australia following on made 408, Hearne 4-99 leaving England to make 95 to win which they duly did by nine wickets. Train to Melbourne 20th December where the team took a well deserved rest, duck shooting and fishing at Metong and other places on a three day trip by launch... ‘walked for two solid hours in scorching hot sun, loaded with cartridges and eaten alive by flies without getting a shot or even seeing anything in the way of game’.., played tour match at Bendigo before the second Test began on the 1st January ‘Started second Test match in cooler weather, Stoddart standing down... they put on 520, a winning score at any time... The crowd were every severe on us with their ‘barracking’ and one section showed itself very unsportsmanlike’ .... this ‘barracking’ is awfully disconcerting to players’. England batted in reply and on a baked and cracked wicket following glorious hot weather on the Sunday (rest day) were dismissed for 283, following on and with the wicket almost unplayable they were all out for 144. The Australians winning by an innings and 55 runs. ‘Am confident in saying that had we won the toss that the result would have been just the reverse’.. The team then travelled to Ballarat and Stawell for up-county tour matches, drawing both, the heat getting to the p[layers ‘’113 in the shade and we were playing on a ground with not a blade of grass upon it... Not a breath of air could reach you and as ill luck would have it we were in the field’. Wednesday 12th January was the last entry in the two books kept by Hearne. The second book in not quite fully completed which suggests he wrote no more. If a mood of disillusionment is apparent in the final entries, it is not inappropriate. England were soundly beaten in the remaining three Tests and lost the series 4-1. Hearne did not tour again but played three more Tests against Australia in 1899, performing a hat-trick at Headingley, the last by an Englishmen in a Test against Australia in England. He last played for Middlesex in 1923, a highly respected ‘senior pro’. Some wear and old tape to the spine of the books, front covers detaching, some browning to outer pages, some breaking to page blocks and pages becoming loose otherwise in good condition. An excellent insight into the life of a professional cricketer on tour, substandard accommodation and food, sharing double beds, trouble with mosquitoes for the professionals compared to the lodgings and food of the amateurs. A unique pair of diaries

The thirteen man touring party consisted of Stoddart, MacLaren, Druce, Ranjitsinhji, Mason, Hayward, Richardson, Hearne, Wainwright, Hirst, Briggs, Storer and Board
Jack Hearne played for Middlesex from 1888 to 1923 and played twelve Test matches for England taking 49 wickets at an average of 22. He took 3061 first-class wickets and is the greatest for any bowler of medium pace or above, and his best seasons were in 1896 taking 257 wickets and in 1898 taking 222 wickets. He is the only bowler to take a hat-trick in an Ashes Test match played in England. Hearne achieved this honour by taking the wickets of a seriously illustrious Australian trio of Clem Hill, Syd Gregory and Monty Noble in the second innings of the first Test match played at Headingley v Australia in 1899, his last appearance in a Test match for England. He toured South Africa with W.W. Read’s team in 1892 and was chosen to tour Australia in 1897/98. Wisden named him as a Cricketer of the Year in 1892. He died in April 1944 at the age of 76 years.