took ten wickets in the match including a match-winning analysis of eight for 38 in the second innings. In August, he made his first-team debut for Lancashire and played in two County Championship matches against Sussex and Surrey but he had only moderate success with a best return of three for 99 against Surrey. He rejected an offer to join the Lancashire ground staff, preferring to remain in better-paid league cricket, which he could combine with full-time employment as a clerk in a Staffordshire colliery. In 1900, Barnes left Rishton and joined Burnley Cricket Club, also in the Lancashire League. He did not represent Lancashire that season but reappeared in 1901 when he made two Second XI appearances against Yorkshire's Second XI and one County Championship match, the last match of the season in late August against Leicestershire at Old Trafford. This was a rain-interrupted draw but Barnes scored 32 runs and then took six for 70 in the Leicestershire first innings, reducing them to an all-out 140 in response to Lancashire's total of 328–8 declared. Lancashire wanted Barnes to sign for them in 1902, but Barnes, always financially aware, was unsure, as he considered first-class county cricket to be "a great deal of hard work for relatively little money", and he liked his arrangement with Burnley supplementing his full-time job. Lancashire's captain was Archie MacLaren who was about to form an England team to tour Australia in 1901–02 and, despite Barnes's limited first-class career to this point, he was invited to join the squad. This came about because Lord Hawke refused to allow George Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes to travel but MacLaren had become, to quote White, "the first to see in Barnes a bowler of international calibre". Barnes's selection was a major surprise and considered to be "the most daring experiment in the history of the game". For Barnes, "job security was always a prime consideration" and he accepted the tour but with misgivings. Barnes was a great success in Australia but his participation was cut short by a knee injury. He played against three state teams before making his Test debut against Australia on 13 December 1901 at Sydney Cricket Ground, where he took five for 65 in the first innings. Also making their debuts in this Test were Colin Blythe and Len Braund. Between them, the three debutant bowlers took all twenty Australian wickets as England