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

45 Chapter Nine THE QUATERCENTENARY ERA 1947-1956 In 1952, the School celebrated its four hundredth anniversary. The Quatercentenary Era therefore seems a fitting title, but it can also be regarded as the era of JB Guy and DFE Cockle, whose wise coaching produced a large number of very high standard players over a long period. Bernard Guy had joined the staff in 1940, but became master in charge of cricket in 1949. Dudley Cockle, who had played for the RAF and Wiltshire, was appointed cricket professional in the same year. They both enjoyed a long tenure, Guy giving way to one of his proteges, DH Benson, in 1964 and Cockle finally retiring in 1972. PT Richardson succeeded to the captaincy in 1947. His side played 16 matches, gaining five victories while sustaining six defeats, only two of which, however, were against other schools. Judgments have to be somewhat cautious, because details of only nine games are available, but the end-of-season report suggested that the batting was reliable, apart from one or two disastrous lapses. JG Harrison was singled out for mention as the most successful batsman. However, he only made 290 runs, with a highest score of 44, which suggests that scores were still fairly low. However, MGH Spencer, DJG Sells, JR Charlesworth and AJ Homer all batted usefully. The bowling was accurate and consistent, and Richardson enjoyed by far his best season with 50 wickets, at the extremely low cost of 7.94. Sells, TR Reese and JM Barson provided support, and B Lobb, a young slow bowler, bowled well but was sometimes inaccurate in length. Richardson was primarily responsible for most of the wins. The victory over Denstone was the first time KES had beaten these opponents since 1933. Richardson took 5 for 38 to dismiss Denstone for 86, and Harrison and others knocked off the runs for the loss of six wickets. Against Repton Second XI, after KES had made a challenging declaration on 133 for six, Richardson with 5 for 34 bowled them out for 83. Perhaps the most unexpected win was against Warwick: though KES were all out for 79, Richardson produced his best figures of the season, 5 for 12, to dismiss Warwick for 41. Richardson took another five wickets, for 21, against the Common Room, as the Common Room batted on after passing KES’s total of 76. KES just avoided defeat against Combined KEGS, finishing with 9 wickets down (in a 12 a side match) despite 4 for 17 from JD Bannister. Richardson recorded his fifth five-wicket haul of the season in the drawn match against Ashfield. JG Pardoe had not enjoyed particular success as a batsman in 1947, but he succeeded to the captaincy in 1948. The season’s record shows six matches won as against eight lost. The bowling was expected to be weak after the departure of Richardson, but in fact proved fairly reliable. Pardoe opened the bowling with P Hutchings, an attacking fast bowler, who took 36 wickets; JAM Harrod, slow left-arm, took 40 wickets, and B Lobb, whose bowling this year was more varied and more successful, took 22. There were signs that batting standards were improving. JG Harrison, who opened the innings, was once