The great Australian batsman Clem Hill told Neville Cardus that, on a perfect wicket, Barnes could swing the new ball in and out "very late", could spin from the ground, pitch on the leg stump and miss the off. This is evidence of Barnes' ability to deploy maximum variety in the space of a single over. Cardus remarked on Barnes' creativity as "one of the first bowlers really to use the seam of a new ball and combine swing so subtly with spin that few batsmen could distinguish one from the other".