Arthur Mold Bowling to A.N. Hornby (1901)

This film is part of the Mitchell and Kenyon collection - an amazing visual record of everyday life in Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century.
To buy the DVD click here - www.bfi.org.uk/filmstore
All titles on the BFI Films channel are preserved in the vast collections of the BFI National Archive. To find out more about the Archive visit www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collect...

[@katelamb3850]

My great Grandfather played for Somerset and is probably in this footage!! Ernest Robson. Thank you so much for showing this!!

[@mnm769]

Judging by his stats, he was very unlucky not to play for England

[@judymummery5569]

Scored 24 and 10 , bowled by Mold in the second innings

[@katelamb3850]

@@mnm769 He was a professional not Amateur so that went against him sadly.

[@thebeeskl]

love the steam trains running through at the beginning!

[@nadeemafzal8984]

Absolutely Isn’t that just stunning

[@simonmold269]

My great-great uncle! I played a bit of cricket, but this sort of speed in the nets was about my limit!

[@goodtrollofthewest2757]

Love this type of classic footage...fast forward to modern times and this is your average c grade net session...

[@mikeos1]

A very strange action indeed. rather than a normal bowling action it seems to be more of a sideways, round arm delivery. Not surprised it caused controversy.

[@RobinHood5045]

Nice video. You can read about Arthur Mold on Wikepedia, and A.N.Hornby. Hornby also played Football for Blackburn Rovers, and Rugby for England during his career.

[@tryarunm]

O my Hornby and my Barlow long ago. And a ghostly batsman plays to the bowling of a ghost. God bless the souls of all these players. God bless all here.

[@Chaitanyaworld2692]

His stance of batting and shots are modern day like 🙂

[@thelobsterperson]

Love Chiles' comments about how upstanding a figure Hornby was while showing footage of footwork so shocking you'd be thrown out of the nets at school

[@adhominemsis-t.australisensis]

If this guy captained England then we can dismiss test cricket of this era as low club level of today at best.

[@malthuswasright]

@@adhominemsis-t.australisensis Just goes to show how idiotic it is to compare between eras. I'd love to see you trying to bat with a lightweight bat, virtually no protection, on uncovered pitches, against bowlers with suspect actions.

[@chrislaw4189]

Mr Hornby has clearly got a good eye.

[@nedpoines8104]

The man in the harlequin cap is Lionel Palarait.

[@rar0t0nga]

Valuable footage. Arthur Mold was reckoned one of the fastest bowlers in England of his era. Appreciate this is in the nets but your average modern test spinner probably bowls as quickly as that. Really interesting to highlight the game's development.

[@SwaggerKing-rj7jv]

He is 38 at this stage and only having fun. I have seen photos of slip standing long way back in Test Matches. Sadly no match or serious match footage 🙁

[@Dilhan777]

@widlad7 I am interested in LCH Palairet. Are there any other clips of him, especially batting ?

[@EJP286CRSKW]

Phillips looks to be wearing not a 'larrikin' hat, whatever that might be, but a Digger's slouch hat with the side let down. Fresh from the Boer War.

[@chunkz1187]

His action looks far more legal than Muralitharan's ever was

[@ruchirmundhra6716]

chunkz1187 also I guess doesn't consume drugs like Warne

[@baconbiter6984]

Don't think he throws it but he bowls absolute pies !!!

[@julianchristopher147]

I wonder if they filmed Mr Mold bowling at full pace. Was that him running in to bowl at quicker pace towards the end of the film?

[@PEYIAKID]

Cant see a thing wrong with Mr Moles action, by today's players this would never be against any rules, his elbow is straight at the point of release..perfectly fair!!

[@namanvarmastark]

You still alive

[@vladuha15]

wow... :O

[@Allanfearn]

Old Trafford before the deep fine leg scoreboard was built - and in nearly open country. Hornby was 53, and long- retired. MacLaren was captaining on the field. Mold was suspected of "throwing", but he obviously wasn't going to give anything away here. But at least they hadn't re-aligned the wicket to give the members and press the exclusive use of the behind the bowler's arm view.

[@stumps03]

@widlad7 Lancashire's best-loved cricketer and a great hero of mine,the one and only Johnny 'Boy' Briggs

[@adhominemsis-t.australisensis]

Can't decide what's worse, the bowling or the batting.

[@omerfazal3657]

And soon all of us will be too

[@hphinn]

1901!! Unbelievable!! Not one person in this video is alive today.

[@andrewkennaugh1065]

It would be more unbelievable if there WAS anyone still alive from that video...!😊

[@jimhunter1364]

Isn't it just that it's more a round arm action like Malinga's? I'm not sure the arm is actually too bent at delivery but hard to be certain. Do love the old footage: makes me feel like my standard of play would be acceptable :)

[@adrianollivierre9311]

Arthur Mold was registered as a fast bowler, I know he's not bowling flat out but this is slow medium.

[@brianbooth679]

So was he throwing or bowling anyone know? Pls help.

[@chokurei38]

Action looks fine to me . Apparently WG grace had a similar action . Low arm whipped round but looks straight at release

[@MrBazzabee]

Anyone know the name of the guy wearing the "Harlequin" cap? and BTW it's not Douglas Jardine it's too early!

[@user-km2kq3np4l]

MrBazzabee It's Lionel Palarait.

[@dragonslug93]

He's native from Northampton.

[@peterkemp1973]

Is that Archie McLaren [Lancashire capt.] walking next to Lionel Palairet [Somerset] and wearing a white neckerchief?

[@graemp]

It is difficult to see any straightening of the arm from this footage to be certain. However, just before release, his front foot is slightly splayed and his chest very front on. Both these body positions are common among bowlers who threw.

[@Exiide89]

His action looks perfectly fine to me. It's round arm but the arm is straight. I guess it was unconventional for the time to bowl round arm.

[@chrislaw4189]

You couldn't be more wrong here. Firstly, legal bowling is not about bowling with a straight arm, otherwise Murali would never have been allowed to bowl. Legal bowling is about not straightening your arm during delivery. Secondly, round arm bowling was actually much more common back then, and had actually been the standard until the 1860s or 1870s, with over arm bowling only being legalised in 1864.

[@FaerieCrone]

Back to a time when the term 'ladies and gentlemen' rang true.

[@Dilhan777]

@widlad7 Thank you. Yes, Briggs was a great bowler of the period, and his end was sad. Lionel Palairet was considered the supreme stylist of the Golden Age of cricket. The photographs of him in action suggest a very elegant batsman. The accounts I have read of him also suggest that he was a very nice man. I wish there were some clips of him batting.

[@Worden73]

Dilhan777 Briggs didn't play in this game.!

[@hovermotion]

wow ...I have worked at Old Trafford on the main building in this vid.....{french polishing} I am not a cricket fan and do not follow cricket but find this vid amazing {trains at the start } I have no Idea how I came across this vid...lol ..{you tube on auto in the back ground while I was doing something else}....

[@tony8173]

They broke the mould

[@tomcustard]

Hornby was over 50 years old at this point, it isn't surprising that his footwork looks sluggish

[@teknofonix]

Arthur 'thrower' Mold

[@Will-eb7fr]

Probaly not legal but very hittable stuff...

[@planetX15]

Why did everybody back in those days wore hats?

[@user-km2kq3np4l]

planetX15 it's called fashion sweetie, look it up

[@sewob147]

Looks like a chucker to me even taking into account a less technically inclined game structure. Consider Malinga when viewing this; if he were standing straight at the point of release he'd be throwing sidearm so why he got away with it for so many years just because he was falling away at the point of release always confused me.

[@ynotnilknarf39]

bollocks, the guy has a tiny bend at most on release and is a side on motion but it's no where near Malinga's action ffs!

[@zapbrannigan000]

once again aussie umps ruining the game.

[@Will-eb7fr]

Dodgy action but shhssss - keep him on.

[@buttegowda]

They should watch Murali bowling today !!!

[@andrewkennaugh1065]

And South African Paul Adams.Remember him?!Bizarre action!😊

[@RaveDave871]

Clearer picture than cricket video tapes 100 years later ! Never liked video.

[@dragonslug93]

Mold was throwing rather than bowling I can see how the Australian Ref, Philip accused him of that, lol.

[@malthuswasright]

You're not into cricket are you? The "ref" is an umpire. And by the look of it the bowling arm is straight at the point of release and thus is legal. Quite round-arm, but that's not outside the laws.

[@chrislaw4189]

@@malthuswasright Legal bowling is not about bowling with a straight arm, otherwise Murali would never have been allowed to bowl. It is about not straightening your arm during the delivery.

[@sentimentalbloke185]

Well dodgy geezer.

[@JemMackie]

Pity Mold wasn't Asian or the cricket authorities would have changed the rules so he could throw legally.

[@jasonpfinch]

Mold's action looks dodgy as hell to me.

[@malthuswasright]

It's a bit round arm, but it doesn't look like the arm is bending particularly.

[@chrislaw4189]

@@malthuswasright You don't understand the rules. Bowling with a bent arm is legal. Straightening a bent atm during delivery is not legal.

[@malthuswasright]

@@chrislaw4189 I played league cricket from 1999-2009. As a bowler. I think I know the laws (not rules note - with your name I thought you'd know that!) well enough - the point I was making was there was no dynamic shift in the angle of the arm in Mold's delivery.

[@Chaitanyaworld2692]

Stylish people but they were nonsense now people are more understanding what is right what is wrong quickly these people smoking pipes like chimneys

[@mkhan888]

all the people in this video are dead

[@randybridgeman5050]

Brilliant observation. Thanks for sharing. The question is where will a man spend eternity?

[@billbogg3857]

Definitely up to no good. He will have to be sent to Australia.

[@sheraz_dsgroup]

Muralitharan is worse this is nothing

[@melglen1]

wasnt edwardian cricket substandard poor athletecism poor techniques

[@Sparky-ov1ot]

Definitely dodgy to say the very least1