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

25 Ibbotson, Barker, Bache and Tasker made a hundred runs, but the highest individual score during the season was only 40, achieved twice, by Bache against Handsworth Wood CC and Ibbotson against Warwickshire Club and Ground. The latter score was part of the highest team total for the season, 169. WK Brown’s batting fell away, in contrast to his record the previous season: in 1905 he made only 81 runs. 1906, under WK Brown, now happily back in form, was much better, and seven matches were won out of 11 played. The batting was considerably improved, and only twice did the School fail to reach three figures. On three occasions the two hundred was reached, but the triumph of the season was the match against Reading School. Brown won the toss, and Bache, who as already recorded was a left-hand bat, strong on the leg side, and displaying a beautiful style, scored 82 for the first wicket with JWC Turner, at a cracking pace. On Turner’s dismissal, CL Breeden joined Bache and the pair scored at two runs a minute. The lunch score was 244 for one, of which Bache had made 149 not out. Breeden was out after two runs had been added, the partnership between the two thus being worth 164, but FG Yardley, with growing confidence, helped Bache to put on another 55, before Bache was at last out. He had made 179 out of 301 in three hours; he had hit 23 fours, and only gave two very difficult chances. This was an innings of which Jessop would have been proud. It still remains the highest individual innings ever made for the School. Brown declared at 371 for five (another record that still survives), and SA Eglington and SH Richardson then bowled Reading out for 104. Other distinguished batting performances during the season were Bache’s 79 in 45 minutes against Bromsgrove, when he and Eglington added a record 57 for the last wicket which restored a bad situation; Turner’s 79 not out and FJ Breeden’s 50 in a partnership of 117 for the sixth wicket against The Oratory; and a total of 239 for four (Brown 72 not out, Bache 57) against Warwick. At the end of the season, seven batsmen had scored over a hundred runs, the best being Bache with 433, Turner 315 and CL Breeden 269 – all of these in only 12 innings. SA Eglington, fast left-arm, took 32 wickets, and the other main bowlers were FJ Breeden, medium-pace, and Bache, leg-break: they bowled out the opposition seven times. JWC Turner left at the end of the season. He went on to play 46 matches for Worcestershire between 1911 and 1921, making 1,266 runs in first-class cricket, with one century. In later life, he became a distinguished criminal law scholar. He was one of no fewer than four members of the 1906 side to play first-class cricket – Bache, Richardson and Breeden were the others. In 1907, under HG Bache, the school lacked the power to win matches. This is shown by the season’s record – played 13, two won, seven drawn and four lost. A young team had only two bowlers, Bache and CL Breeden, both spinners; Eglington, the best bowler of 1906, had left. Bache made 333 runs, but the next best was SH Richardson with only 136. The best individual performance was by Bache against Reading, who cannot have looked forward to matches against KES: he took seven wickets for five runs and then scored 78 not out. 1908 was better: a more experienced side, again captained by Bache, won four matches and only lost one. CL Breeden was the outstanding player, with 319 runs and 59 wickets. HL Higgins, in his first season, gave promise of great things to come. The School beat Denstone and Nottingham High School by an innings. Denstone were bowled out for