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

20 1897, under EWC Bradfield, was another season for which no averages or full list of results were supplied. The School, without Goodwin, who had left, and Bisseker, who was ill, was weak, especially in bowling, and we may conclude that it was not a good season. Ill-luck and illness dogged the team. SP Eaden (slow left-arm) bowled well, and took 9 for 18 against Dorridge, which included a hat-trick and four wickets in five balls. He was supported by B Oughtred, who was later capped three times for England at rugby, and captained his country against Wales in 1902-03. EW Chance was the best batsman, followed by EWC Bradfield (‘A good bat, but rather too fond of slogging’ according to the Chronicle). In 1898 a young side won only two matches out of 12, as against eight lost, but the new set matches for junior boys introduced by Bradfield, VS Smith and R Chance inspired great interest among the younger boys. Bradfield was the only batsman to make one hundred runs in the season. Most of the bowling was done by IW Smith and EN Chance. The Old Edwardians were beaten in a low-scoring game – as this suggests, the batting of the side was its principal weakness. Bradfield, who became Lieutenant-General Sir Ernest Bradfield, finished his career as Director-General of the Indian Medical Service and Honorary Physician to the King. He appeared in first-class matches for the Europeans in India in 1906-07 and 1922-23. He may not have led a successful side, but his move in introducing some properly organised junior cricket – described in his unpublished autobiography Unimportant Story (in the Library Archives) – was important in laying the foundations for the next great period of School cricket. RGB Chase was captain in 1899, but his team could only win one match. The story was much the same: the batting was weak, though improving towards the end of the season, and only EC Cowney and RVN Hopkins made a hundred runs, no one averaging more than 14. (Sir Richard Hopkins was later Secretary to the Treasury and Head of the Civil Service from 1942 to 1945, and a Privy Councillor.) The bowling was no more than fair; GEH Johnson did most of the work and took 28 wickets, but nobody else took more than nine. IW Smith was ill and unable to play, and AE Measures, OE and master, was recruited to help out. Scores during the season were low, except at Manchester, where in a new fixture against Manchester Grammar School KES scored 143 and Manchester replied with 201 for nine. The team also showed that they could occasionally bat well on a good wicket by making 184 against Warwickshire Club and Ground on the County Ground at Edgbaston. 1900 showed a distinct improvement. Under HB Wallis, five matches out of 12 were won. Once again, the beginning of another successful period was foreshadowed by a rise in batting standards. Against Warwickshire Club and Ground, KES made the splendid score of 230 for three declared, though the major contributions came from J Manton OE, now a master, who made 106 not out, and his fellow-OE and master AE Measures, who made 45. Manton and IW Smith put on 138 for the second wicket. This was a fine achievement. IW Smith, now recovered from illness, took 6 for 13 in dismissing Tettenhall for 33, and was the best bowler, with 40 wickets during the season. The eleven finished the season at a canter, batting very well and winning or nearly winning the last five matches. Six batsmen averaged over 10, and five of them made over a hundred runs: IW Smith (who played one match for