Arthur Mold - Leading Bowler

Leading Bowler

Mold established himself as one of the leading bowlers in England during 1891. According to Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, "The season of 1891 brought him a great increase of reputation, and all through the summer he was uniformly successful." In all first-class matches, he took 138 wickets at 12.49 to finish second in the national bowling averages. As a result of his good performances in the season, he was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Lancashire finished as runners-up once again in the County Championship.

In 1892, Mold's aggregate of wickets fell to 120 at an average of 13.63, but he returned the best bowling figures of his career when he took nine for 29 against Kent. He was chosen in a representative match for the first time, playing for the North against the South. During the 1893 season, Mold took 166 wickets at 16.96; at the end of the season, The Times described him as a great bowler and noted that he and Johnny Briggs were Lancashire's only two effective bowlers. Between them, the pair took 225 wickets; the other bowlers in combination took 46. Once more representing the North during 1893, this time in a match against the touring Australian team, Mold also made his debut in the prestigious Gentlemen v Players match, playing for the professional "Players" and taking nine wickets in the game. His performances brought about his international debut; he played for England in all three Test matches against Australia, the only such appearances of his career. In the first game, he took three for 44 in Australia's only innings, his best figures of the series, and took four wickets in the other two matches to finish with seven wickets at an average of 33.42. It is likely that doubts about the legality of his bowling action prevented him from playing further Test matches, or touring Australia with a representative side. However, other factors may have played a part in his subsequent omission, including the emergence of Tom Richardson as a successful fast bowler, and the opinion that Mold's bowling was flattered by the difficult, uneven pitches on which Lancashire played their home games.

Mold's annual total of wickets continued to increase in the following seasons. In 1894, he again represented the North and the Players, taking 207 wickets in total at an average of 12.30. But as Lancashire increased the number of games they played, Mold and Briggs had an increased bowling workload and once more had little assistance from other bowlers. Between them, they took 324 wickets while the next most successful bowler took 13. The following year, Mold reached his highest seasonal tally with 213 wickets at 15.96, and made his final appearance for the Players. The Times commented on the effectiveness of Mold: "Mold preserves all his pace and break in bowling, and his success on the hard wickets was phenomenal."

Although Mold appeared for the North against the Australians, who toured again in 1896, he did not play any Tests or other representative cricket that year and his wicket total fell to 150 at 18.12; after this season, his bowling began to decline in effectiveness. Suffering frequently from injury in 1897, Mold failed to reach 100 wickets in the season for the first time. His 90 wickets in 1898 were taken at an average over 20, the only time his bowling average was so high, and he missed three weeks of the season owing to injury. After improving his record to 115 wickets at 18.68 during 1899, he was awarded a benefit match by Lancashire during 1900 which raised £2,050, a record total at the time and worth around £173,000 in 2010.