A History of Cricket at King Edward's School, BIrmingham

9 is not the case. A score of the match on Cricket Archive derived from another source makes it clear that the match was played at the Birmingham City Mental Hospital Ground – a fact confirmed by a report in the Chronicle that discloses that the KES Second Eleven were playing Hall Green on the School ground on the same day. It seems clear that 1876 marks the year when the School first played at Eastern Road – at any rate, we have no evidence of any other matches played there before that date, and considerable evidence that the ground was unfit for play in 1874 and 1875; but the first match must have been the rather less satisfactory engagement with Queen’s College on 22 June already referred to. A game against the Old Edwardians followed on 24 June, which was won by the Old Edwardians. The first victory at Eastern Road did not come until 28 June, when Wolverhampton Grammar School were beaten on first innings in a low scoring match: Wolverhampton 27 and 46, KES 41 and 11 for four. This game may be taken as typical of the cricket played during these years. Scores were generally low. The wicket cannot have been good, and was probably very bad, which would explain the large number of wickets that bowlers took in a season. Even in 1892 the grass off the square was still usually at least a foot high, a disadvantage to high scoring. In fact, the batsmen became rather despondent. ‘Each man goes to the wicket in expectation of a “duck”’ said the School Chronicle of 1883, ‘- and is rarely disappointed.’ In 1877 only ‘internal’ matches were played. EW Floyd, the secretary who had done so much towards the re-establishment of the game at the School, was still there, but no indication is given of why there were no matches. The only matches recorded in the Chronicle were captain (C Hewitt) v Secretary (EW Floyd) and XI v Next XVIII – both, one gathers, regular events in these years. In 1878 four matches were played and two were won, but the organisation of cricket was still a struggle. One or two talented individuals kept the whole enterprise going, such as the brothers Webster (J and HW) and WH Devis. However, at the end of the season, a very good victory over Birmingham Law Students showed that better things were on the way. A Smith – an appropriate name, perhaps, in view of later events – made 57 (the first recorded fifty since Marston in 1857) and Cockersole 49, both at Eastern Road, a decided improvement. The Chronicle does not disclose the name of the captain for 1878, but a note inserted in GW Craig’s copy of the Chronicle for 1872-75, now in the Foundation Archives, shows that J Westwood was the captain. The captain’s board in the pavilion at Eastern Road suggests that C Hewitt continued as captain in 1878, but this cannot be the case since he did not play any matches in this year. His name was inserted in error in 1965 when some gaps were being filled up. Craig’s information did not come to light until later. More matches (13) were played in the next year, 1879, under the captaincy of J Webster, and three were won. H Price and AAH Partridge batted well, but Webster was outstanding in both batting and bowling – it is a pity that there are no exact details of his bowling style. Generally, however, the side was let down at vital moments by its batting. In 1880 the School, captained by a famous Edwardian, PC Adams, maintained its standard, with three victories out of 12 matches played, and scores were becoming slightly