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

33 In 1925, under BH Howell, five matches were won but six were lost. There was a bad start to the season, with the first four matches being lost: in one of these, against, St Edward’s Oxford, a certain DRS Bader scored 63 out of 73 in 25 minutes and then took 3 for 19. Douglas Bader later lost both legs in a flying accident, but nonetheless served with distinction in the RAF in the Second World War. There was some improvement thereafter, leading to a fine win against the Old Edwardians. In this match, AF Goode scored 109 not out in a School total of 252 for nine declared (also including 57 extras) and then LH Caird, slow left-arm (5 for 51) and DE Raine, left-arm medium pace (4 for 44) bowled out the OEs for 174. Goode’s was not the only century hit during the season: EW Elwood scored 122 not out in a match against W Baines’s XI, out of a KES total of 238 for seven declared (Sandbach 56). Elwood and Goode topped the batting averages, though this was chiefly due to their not-out centuries; the most consistent batsman during the season was Sandbach, who made 252 runs in 13 innings with a highest score of 57. HF Raybone also made some runs. Howell had a rather disappointing season with the bat, but proved a good captain, and DR Dudley looked to be a promising young player. However, the best performance of the season was probably that of LH Caird, who took 37 wickets, including five or more wickets four times: figures of 6 for 67 against Denstone and 5 for 72 against Leamington CC could not prevent defeat in these two matches, due to batting failures, but Caird’s bowling played an important part in the wins against the Old Edwardians, Olton CC and W Baines’s XI. RA Cohen, the vice-captain, who bowled right-arm fast-medium, took 30 wickets, including five in a losing cause against Denstone and five to secure victory against Warwick, and Raine took 20 wickets. A Smith kept wicket well – interestingly, another wicket-keeper with the same name was to achieve even greater distinction thirty years later. All in all, 1925 showed promise for the future. This promise was perhaps not as completely fulfilled as it might have been in 1926. Under RA Cohen, four matches were won, five lost, and as many as eight drawn. The season was most noteworthy for the feat of WE Sandbach, who scored 611 runs, a new record, in 18 innings with a highest score of 92 not out against unknown opponents (full details of some matches are not available). This was one of his five fifties, which also included 78 against Warwickshire Club and Ground. No fewer than seven other batsmen scored over a hundred runs, but RA Cohen’s 182 was the second highest aggregate; ES Baker achieved the second highest average, but it was only half that of Sandbach. Elwood made only 137 runs all season, a disappointing performance after the promise he had shown the previous season; however, he bowled well (left-arm medium) to take 25 wickets, and Raine and Cohen proved a useful opening pair, each taking five wickets in an innings on two occasions. There were some heavy losses, including Bromsgrove (KES falling short on first innings by 133) and the two matches against Denstone (KES losing by an innings and 68 runs, and by 137 runs three weeks later). There were a number of low scores, notably 38 against Barnt Green CC, 41 against Denstone and 43 against Bromsgrove, and on a couple of occasions later in the season KES were lucky to escape with a draw. However, there were some good wins, notably in the annual match against the Old Edwardians, who were beaten by an innings. KES scored 250 for 6 declared, with Sandbach (69) and Dudley (53) laying the