John Barnwell (cricketer)

Infobox cricketer biography
playername = John Barnwell


country = England
fullname = Charles John Patrick Barnwell
nickname =
living =
dayofbirth = 23
monthofbirth = 6
yearofbirth = 1914
placeofbirth = Stoke-on-Trent
countryofbirth = England
dayofdeath = 4
monthofdeath = 9
yearofdeath = 1998
placeofdeath = Fivehead, Somerset
countryofdeath = England
batting = Right-handed batsman
bowling = Right-arm medium
role = Batsman
family = LML Barnwell, nephew
club1 = Somerset
year1 = 1935-48
type1 = First-class
debutdate1 = 12 June
debutyear1 = 1935
debutfor1 = Somerset
debutagainst1 = Gloucestershire
lastdate1 = 1 July
lastyear1 = 1948
lastfor1 = Somerset
lastagainst1 = Lancashire
deliveries = balls
columns = 1
column1 = First-class
matches1 = 69
runs1 = 1592
bat avg1 = 15.16
100s/50s1 = -/5
top score1 = 83
deliveries1 = 52
wickets1 = -
bowl avg1 = -
fivefor1 = -
tenfor1 = -
best bowling1 = -
catches/stumpings1 = 18/-
date = 22 Sept
year = 2008
source = http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3424/3424.html CricketArchive

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

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.Cite book | title = "Sunshine, Sixes and Cider: A History of Somerset Cricket" | author = David Foot | edition = 1986 | publisher = David and Charles | ISBN = 0 7153 8890 8 | pages = p134–135 ]

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. [cite web | url = http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3424/f_Batting_by_Season.html | title = First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by John Barnwell |publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 2008-09-22] In 1937, he played only seven games, but passed 50 for the first time with 73 in the match against Gloucestershire at Taunton. [cite web | url = http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/16/16144.html | title = Somerset v Gloucestershire |date = 1937-05-15 |publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 2008-09-22]

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. [cite web | url = http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/16/16738.html | title = Gloucestershire v Somerset |date = 1938-07-30 |publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 2008-09-22] His best season was 1939, when he made 396 runs, including his career-best of 83 against Hampshire at Taunton. [cite web | url = http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17058.html | title = Somerset v Hampshire |date = 1939-07-01 |publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 2008-09-22]

After the 1946 season, Barnwell was allegedly offered the captaincy of Somerset, but turned it down, 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. 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." [Cite book | title = "Somerset Cricket:A Post-war Who's Who" | author = David Foot and Ivan Ponting | edition = 1993 | publisher = Redcliffe Press, Bristol | ISBN = 1 872971 23 7 | pages = p13 ]

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

References