Frank Hayes anticipated a big surprise for world cricket in the early 1970s. But unfortunately, he didn’t do justice with his talent. Here is an article predicting that Frank Hayes is a big hope for English cricket. Lancashire occupied an unaccustomedly low position in the championship table in the first two months of the season. New captain David Lloyd found his bowlers were struggling, particularly Ken Shuttleworth, who managed only eight wickets in six innings, and Peter Lever, who fell away after a 10-wicket start against Northamptonshire.
Peter Lee, originally recruited from Northamptonshire as a replacement when either of these two was on test duty, found himself the main strike force. Lloyd was struck on the nose while fielding at short leg in the match against Oxford University, and not long afterward, he was knocked unconscious by a shot from Majid Khan in the Benson and Hedges quarter-final at Old Trafford. Lloyd was taken to the hospital and has since vowed never to field a short leg again.
Incidentally, Majid Khan was out of the shot, but the ball rebounded to Harry Pilling at mid-on. Now Lancashire has no “suicide” fielder on the leg side. No one wants to go there. Except for Lloyd and Pilling, who both made centuries, Lancashire’s main batsmen failed to make big scores. A particular disappointment was West Indian Test star Clive Lloyd who left Lancashire to join the touring side without having made a century.
Frank Hayes, whose 88 in the test trial was highly commended by the selectors, was another disappointment. So was wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer. Despite their failings in the three-day games, Lancashire maintained their reputation in one-day cricket. They swamped Glamorgan to reach the last four of the Benson and Hedges Cup, and just before the halfway stage in the John Player League, they held the sixth position, eight points behind the leaders.
In the 1970s, Lancashire star Frank Hayes, made a stunning Test debut (106 Not Out vs. West Indies in 1973), which was a false dawn. Unfortunately, in his next 8 tests, Frank Hayes averaged just 8.13. Perhaps he should have done better,” he said. “But I’m not at all bitter. If you didn’t do yourself justice, it was down to me.”
