ABSTRACT
From 1889 Arthur played cricket professionally during the football close season. It was the team sport that he was active in longest - until his fifties at least. It may well have been the first game he encountered as a boy in the Gold Coast; and at Burlington Road School in London. We know for sure that the game was established in the Cape Coast-Accra coastal belt during Arthur's time in the colony. He also played cricket at Cannock and Darlington. Many of his athletic triumphs while a student in the North East were under the vest of the Darlington Cricket Club. But it was the local Yorkshire and Lancashire leagues from which he earned a summer living. He was described by the secretary of Rotherham Cricket Club as 'a magnificent fielder, a safe catch, and his well known running abilities enable him to make a lot of clever performances ... a good all-round cricketer'.1 Greasebro', the home parish of Emma, hired his services for six seasons from 1889 to 1895, with an interruption for one season - 1891 - at Rawmarsh (playing alongside a Lister, the family name of his wife). He finished sixth in that season's averages. In 1895 he turned out for both Rawmarsh and Greasebro'; and in 1891 and 1894 for Rotherham Borough Police. (Arthur as publican ensuring his licence?)
He signed as a professional for Stalybridge Cricket Club in 1896. A 'large crowd' turned out for his debut on 2 May. Within weeks he was their star attraction, encouraging many of his newly won football acolytes at Crookbottom to take an interest. 'On Wharton issuing from the pavilion there was perfect hurricane of applause, and amidst whistling and shouting and cries of "play-up, Rovers" he walked leisurely to the wicket.'2 At the end of his first season he was allowed a benefit, over two evenings against Dukinfield. Yet, despite his
overwhelming popularity, Arthur did not play cricket for Stalybridge after 1896. There seems little doubt that his departure was caused by his leaving the football club in 1897. He did turn out for Ashton Cricket Club on one occasion in August 1897. During the rest of his time in Lancashire he appears to have played little or no cricket.
