Legends of TWCC

The tall figure turned at the end of his short run up, tossed his hair back and came in a few paces to deliver a ball on a length heading for off stump should the batsman make a mistake. This scenario would have been repeated well over 35,000 times over a long playing career with Tunbridge Wells and the Heffle Cuckoos.

There are many examples of bowlers who started as seam / pace bowlers and changed to spin in the second part of their career. For Barry it was exactly the opposite. He joined TWCC as an off spin bowler and plied his trade for around 5 years in that style. One day, the opening bowler was late arriving for a First Eleven home match (he missed his bus from Shipbourne!) and Barry took the new ball adopting the style which was to become a career changing move. This was in 1963 and the following season saw Barry claim 127 wickets for the Club in a herculean 681 overs.  When you consider that no TWCC bowler delivered 200 overs in 2025, this perhaps puts Barry’s workload in context.

In those far off days, the Sunday fixture list was comparable in strength to the Saturday list and most of the matches for the First Eleven on a Sunday were 11.30 starts. This provided the opportunity for long spells and a fielding stint of 60/70 overs was not unusual.  The Sunday captains such as Alan Burton, Frank Clarke and Jonathan Langdale were grateful to have Barry to keep control at one end.

For a number of years in the mid 1960’s, Barry took the new ball on Saturdays. The arrival at the Club of Bill Tucker, Bert Roebuck and Richard Howarth saw Barry’s role change to that of support bowler. He was well suited to this but always felt that his most effective times were when he had a new ball in his hand. 

On 40 occasions Barry took five or more wickets for TWCC in an innings including a career best of 8 for 18 against East Grinstead in 1967. Nine years later Barry almost matched this with 8 for 29 against Sidcup.  The year 1974 saw TW reach the National Knockout Final at Lord’s with Barry contributing a spell of 4 for 14 in 8 overs against Addiscombe and a miserly spell of nought for 17 in 8 overs in the semi-final at York.

The match at York was won one by just one run. A tense low scoring contest reached the last over and the batsman went for glory and skied the ball a huge distance in the air. Most fielders were glad they were not under the ball as it descended from the sky. Barry took the catch safely and Tunbridge Wells were booked for Lord’s. For much of his career, Barry could normally be found in the slips where he was a reliable catcher. No mug with the bat, Barry won the Club’s trophy for the fastest fifty on two occasions. His highest score was made from a perilous scoreline of 34 for 7 wickets against Streatham. Their Surrey County bowler, David Gibson, was wreaking havoc before Barry made an undefeated 66 and saved the game with support from two tailenders.

It is known that Barry took well over 850 wickets for the Club.  He remains the second highest wicket taker in the history of the Club with only Des Hall ahead of him.

Barry was to continue playing until 1979 but was able to maintain his love of sport through golf and, rather later, fishing with his great pal, Alan Burton.  Barry reached his 90th birthday before passing away in the early summer of 2025.