John Armstrong Fallows (25 July 1907 – 20 January 1974) was a cricketer who played one season of

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

when he captained

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

in 1946.

Life and career

Jack Fallows was born in Cheshire and educated at

Worksop College Worksop College (formerly St Cuthbert's College) is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils aged 13 to 18, in Worksop. It sits at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, England. Founded ...

. A club cricketer and

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

player for Cheshire before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and a major during the war,Obituary
by

John Arlott Leslie Thomas John Arlott, OBE (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's ''Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he be ...

, ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county and club cricket. The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cricket writer. Warner ...

'', May 1974. he was asked to captain Lancashire in the first season after the war when the appointed captain,

Jack Iddon John Iddon (8 January 1902 – 17 April 1946) was an English professional cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1924 to 1945, and in five Test matches for England in 1935. He was born at Mawdesley, Lancashire, and died f ...

, was killed in a motor accident just before the start of the season. Despite his inexperience and his negligible batting ability he was a popular captain who led the side to third position in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

with 15 victories in 26 matches. ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

's'' report of the Lancashire season noted that "under J.A. Fallows the old stigmas of dullness and lack of imagination were overcome. Whatever his limitations as a batsman, the new captain proved shrewd in the field and inspiring everywhere. Willingness to go out for victory and keen finishes ensured maximum interest and enjoyment."''Wisden'' 1947, pp. 318–19. In 2012, assessing the role of the amateur captain in county cricket,

Colin Shindler Colin Shindler (born 1949) is an English author, social historian and Affiliated Lecturer in History at Cambridge University. Life and career Born in Manchester, Colin Shindler graduated with a degree in History from Gonville and Caius College, Ca ...

praised Fallows as the archetypal amateur captain:

When only four fresh eggs were available one morning at a London hotel, he awarded them to the bowlers because Lancashire were likely to be fielding all day. His team respected and liked him, and he did exactly what an amateur should: he declared boldly to give the opposition a chance and his bowlers time to take their wickets. The crowds returned to Old Trafford, and the team were slightly unlucky to finish only third.Colin Shindler, "The slow death of cricket's class divide"
''Wisden'' 2012, pp. 42-47.

Despite his success, Fallows was replaced as county captain for 1947 by Ken Cranston. He served on the

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

committee before returning to Lancashire, where he was elected to the committee in 1964. As chairman of the Cricket Subcommittee he helped the county overcome a period of failure to achieve success under the captaincy of Jack Bond in the late 1960s and 1970s.

References

External links

Jack Fallows at CricketArchive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fallows, Jack 1907 births 1974 deaths Cricketers from Stockport People educated at Worksop College English cricketers Lancashire cricketers Lancashire cricket captains Cheshire cricketers British Army personnel of World War II English cricket administrators