A gentleman farmer from Farnsfield, where he was born on 14 January 1841, John Richard Truswell first played for his village in 1859 and appeared for Farnsfield and teams in that area on a frequent basis. He was a useful slow, round-arm, bowler, a fair batsman and a reliable fielder in the deep.
He first appeared for the XXII Colts v Nottinghamshire in August 1864 when in his second innings he had the misfortune to be dismissed ‘handled the ball’ – a mode of dismissal that disappeared in 2017 to be subsumed into the category of ‘obstructing the field’. Truswell appeared again for the Colts the following April and made his First-Class debut v Surrey at The Oval in 1868 when misfortune again struck. He had scored three in each innings and taken 1-6 in five four-ball overs when he broke off a finger-nail attempting a caught-and-bowled and took no further part in the game.
His second, and last, First-Class match was also in July 1868, away to Lancashire when he scored 9 and 3 and in Lancashire’s first innings took 5-45. Truswell played a number of games for the Gentlemen of Nottinghamshire, the last coming in 1871 v Gentlemen of Warwickshire when, in a rain-affected game, he took four wickets and was run-out for just one.
Back into club cricket, he took all ten wickets in an innings for Farnsfield against Woodborough and scored 107 for his village v Mr Branston’s XI, both in 1875.
John Truswell, described as a ‘good hearty fellow’, died in Farnsfield on 6 August 1892, having been an invalid for some time.
July 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 118