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

15 An indication of rising standards was the feat of MA Wood who scored 267 runs in 1887, the first time that a batsman had made more than 200 runs in a season. At this time annual awards of bats were made to the best batsman and the best bowler, and no doubt he received the batting prize. In addition to Manton, who took 61 wickets in his first full season (including five or more wickets in an innings on five occasions), other good players were emerging. There was Rowland Williams, an elegant batsman and a steady slow bowler, whose career was to be almost as long as Manton’s. The brothers Wood, MA and AS, and JGR Lewis all batted well. Blewitt, a fast bowler, took 48 wickets and Williams 31. To end on a rather less encouraging note, T Astbury, the best bowler of 1886, was dropped from the side after refusing to play in certain games. The Chronicle revealed what had happened: ‘The best bowler we have this year will not be again included in the eleven, as he deserted us in a recent match to play for an alien club.’ In 1888, only four matches were won and as many as nine lost under the captaincy of JGR Lewis, but this proved only a temporary setback. PG Mason, a slow left-arm bowler who had played occasionally in 1887, took 7-18 against Tettenhall, but then fell off for the rest of the season, and Manton and Blewitt did most of the bowling, Manton taking 48 wickets and Blewitt 30. Manton was perhaps a little less effective, only three times taking five wickets in an innings. Williams abandoned his bowling and took over behind the stumps. Lewis did not have an outstanding season, and the batting depended mainly on Blewitt, Williams, HHJ Jennings and Manton. In the words of the Chronicle, ‘A great deal of useful work was got through. … But as far as the result is concerned, the successes are entirely scored by the Second and Block Elevens.’ 1889 was the first of two years under R Ryder, not one of the outstanding players of 1888, but clearly a good choice as captain. He was the brother of RV Ryder, the Secretary of the Warwickshire County Cricket Club from 1903 to 1945. Nine matches were won (a record) out of 18 played, and the first peak of success was reached. ‘We have turned the corner’, said the Headmaster, the Rev AR Vardy, on Speech Day. There were only four defeats, and there was a very exciting tie against a strong Old Edwardian XII (the match was played 12 a side). Blewitt and Wallis, now in the OE ranks, were responsible for getting the School out for 80, Ryder playing a captain’s innings of 21. Four OE wickets went down for 9, and then, amid mounting excitement, MA Wood and Wallis added 37 for the fifth wicket. There was another good partnership, and eventually with one wicket to fall, the Old Edwardians wanted 15 to win. 14 of these were made, and then, with the scores level, Manton clean bowled W McCardie. There was another good match this year, against Bedford Modern. On the opposing side was AO Jones, later captain of Nottinghamshire and of England (in Australia in 1907- 08). He was a very fine batsman and the outstanding fielder of his generation. However, he was bowled by Manton for six, and Manton’s final analysis was 9 for 36, probably his finest- ever bowling performance for the School. There is an epic account of this match in the School Chronicle for 1895, written by CF Andrews, one of the opening batsmen for KES, who later did important work with the Cambridge Mission in India and became a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi. KES were dismissed for 93, but Manton’s bowling brought them victory