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

38 best bowling of the season was PAT Pinder’s 7 for 49 against the Old Edwardians, though Pinder was unable to prevent an OE victory by an unknown wickets margin – they batted on after reaching the KES score. Pinder, a hard-working seam bowler, took 34 wickets during the season, and Hills 35 – Hills consistently took three or four wickets in an innings, but never five or more, unlike the previous season. In contrast, WJ Tay took five or more wickets in an innings three times, but only 26 in the season as a whole. Some younger players, such as JD Grice and WC Tompkins, made their first appearances. DB Thornton, captain in 1933, batted well and led his team to four wins. He made 111 not out, out of a total of 190 for seven declared, in the first match against Dean Close School. He and WC Tompkins both made over 300 runs, but apart from Thornton’s century neither of them got further than the forties in any individual innings. JR Holden, PAT Pinder, JD Grice and JP Beale all made over two hundred. Holden was one of two brothers to play this year, but the other, GKF, could only manage 177. Grice kept wicket, and Beale and Thornton each took a few wickets. However, the star player of the season was Pinder, who took 43 wickets and held the attack together. He was chiefly responsible for two of the four victories: against Bedford Modern, after KES had been dismissed for 131 (JR Holden 54), Pinder took 8 wickets for 16 runs, and Bedford were all out for 52. Three days later, against Ellesmere College, Pinder made 50, assisting KES to declare at 173 for nine, and then took 6 for 45 as Ellesmere were dismissed for 97. Pinder recorded five-wicket hauls on two other occasions but was unable to bring about victory. The closest match of the season was that against Warwickshire Club and Ground, who included GW Stephens (who had played in the Championship-winning side of 1911) and a young Eric Hollies. (Eric Hollies was playing for England in the West Indies only eighteen months later. He went on to take 2,323 wickets in first-class cricket, and famously bowled Don Bradman for a duck in his last Test innings in 1948, when one boundary would have given him a Test average of 100.00.) Hollies only took one KES wicket, but KES were dismissed for the rather low total of 104. However, Pinder (4 for 20), together with two wickets from Beale and two from Thornton, dismissed the Club and Ground for 103 – Hollies, the last man, was run out when only two runs were required. Denstone were also beaten. JD Grice was captain in 1934, but his team could only win one match, in spite of the efforts of Pinder, who took 42 wickets, including 7 for 79 in a long bowl against the Old Edwardians, who made 220 for eight declared after KES had been dismissed for 118. KES in their second innings were 68 for one when stumps were drawn. In another heroic effort, Pinder took 6 for 38 against Denstone after KES had been dismissed for 50, Denstone batting on after winning. The side was young and inexperienced, but there were some useful batsmen, notably BN Seymour who made 304 runs with a highest score of only 42, EF Twiss, who made 64 against Jesus College, Oxford (KES declared at 197 for nine, and Jesus finished six runs short with six wickets down), and GKF Holden. Beale (fast-medium) was the principal support bowler with 27 wickets, and also made some runs. He took 6 for 46 against Bromsgrove and made 80 not out against Warwickshire Club and Ground, enabling KES to draw the match after the Club and Ground, no doubt keen to avenge the previous year’s defeat, had declared at 246 for five.