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

47 Hutchings, Revill and (occasionally) P Vernon. Homer made 73 not out in the drawn match against Solihull, and 78 not out in another drawn match against a strong Old Edwardian eleven, consisting of players whose School careers spanned the previous thirty years: PDA Alabaster, CF Figures, HL Higgins, BCC Tipper, PO Kendrick, SJ Sumner, JG Pardoe, TG Freeman, RJ Pringle-Brown, S Baker and ES Baker. The Old Edwardians made 217, Freeman top-scoring with 60 not out, and the School were initially in some trouble at 39 for four, but were rescued by Homer and Hutchings in what was then a record fifth-wicket partnership of 88, finishing with 150 for seven. At the end of the season, Homer, Lobb and Gough played for the Warwickshire Public Schools XI, a newly-formed side consisting of under-19 players who played against equivalent sides from other counties. In later years, this team became known as Warwickshire Young Amateurs. AJ Homer was captain again in 1950, not quite such a good season as the previous one – five won, five lost and eight drawn. It might have been expected that bowling would be a problem, owing to the departure of Lobb and Hutchings, but in fact new bowlers came forward. DH Benson and R Barraclough had both played a few matches in 1949. Benson, now a regular player, took 31 wickets with his leg-breaks, and Barraclough, opening the bowling, took 22 wickets. J Hutchings, younger brother of P Hutchings, came into the team and took the most wickets, 33, with his medium-paced off-breaks. However, the bowling find of the season was OS Wheatley, a medium-fast bowler who could bowl both outswingers and inswingers. Coming into the side halfway through the season, he took 5 for 28 in his first match, against Ellesmere College, but the School could not get close to Ellesmere’s total of 107. Wheatley ended the season with 19 wickets. FB Revill’s bowling was not really needed – he only bowled 31 overs. In the matches won, all the bowlers generally contributed to dismiss the opposition cheaply; for example, against Bromsgrove, KES, batting first, were all out for 62 against Bromsgrove but Hutchings (4 for 16) and Benson (3 for 12) dismissed Bromsgrove for 42. There were some notable individual bowling returns. Benson with 5 for 19 was chiefly responsible for the victory against Nottingham High School. Hutchings twice took five wickets in an innings but could not bring about victory. He took 5 for 24 against Repton Second XI, supported by three wickets from Benson, but the KES batting failed, and he was again the leading bowler against Malvern Second XI, with 5 for 47. In this match, KES were left to get 167 in 100 minutes, and finished on 103 for three thanks to 60 from PA Gough. The best batting performance of the season came in the match against Solihull. AJ Homer scored 114 not out in 93 minutes – the first century since 1933 – out of a total of 237 for six declared. Then Benson took four wickets, Barraclough two, and Hutchings, Revill and JL Wilkins one each as Solihull were dismissed for 110. The match against Manchester Grammar School was revived after a long interval, and in reply to Manchester’s 174 for seven declared, KES made 104 for four. However, the season was marked by uncertain batting: in the first match, against the Common Room, DFE Cockle, the new cricket professional, took 4 for 7 as the School were dismissed for 65, and WR Buttle and W Traynor, a regular Common Room opening pair for many seasons, passed this total without being separated. The end of season report suggested that the problem was that KES were a young side with little experience of cricket at this level – the nucleus of the side would stay together until 1953, with very few departures. The best batsman was Homer,