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

55 Chapter Ten THE RECENT PAST 1957-1962 After a very great period, there followed another not-so-great period. But this period was not marked by a decline in batting standards, as the others had been. It was the lack of penetrative bowlers, allied to a splendid batting wicket at Eastern Road, that produced a very high percentage of drawn games – 53 out of a total of 110 games in these six seasons. Except for the season of 1960, when six matches were won, there was a marked inability to win matches. A detailed examination of these seasons will bear this out. In 1957, RG Dauncey’s eleven won three matches and lost ten, seemingly not profiting from the winter coaching made available in the gym and in the Warwickshire indoor cricket school at Edgbaston. A young side, lacking Mulford, Wilkins, Williams and Davies, who had all left School, lacked the necessary experience. The batting failed too often, and the fielding was disappointing. The best victory was against the Common Room, who were dismissed for 62 after KES had declared at 154 for five. This was an all-round effort, no batsman making more than 33 and no bowler taking more than three wickets. Solihull and Manchester Grammar School were the other two sides beaten: GE Phillips made 58 and RG Dauncey took 5 for 32 against Solihull, and MJ Disney (5 for 27) and RC Spiers (4 for 14) dismissed Manchester for 62. PB Rothwell made 63 against Repton, After Warwickshire Club and Ground had scored 202 for two declared, the School were not outclassed with 127 for three, Phillips making 67. There was an exciting finish against Nottingham High School: after KES had declared at 189 for eight (Disney 85), Spiers took 5 for 60 but Nottingham managed to pass the KES total with only one wicket left. Phillips was the most consistent batsman, with 432 runs, followed by Rothwell with 322 runs and Disney with 304. A young player called TP Lee scored 164 runs. Spiers and Dauncey opened the attack, and took 22 and 20 wickets respectively. Disney, another seam bowler, took 19 wickets, and AEH Hornig took 21. But the attack varied from match to match, and RA Green, JT Baker and RFL Wilkins all bowled occasionally. JA Fletcher kept wicket efficiently. In 1958, with AEH Hornig as captain, only one match was won and eight lost. The batting had been weakened by the departure of Phillips, the most successful batsman of 1957, and a number of others, and KES was dismissed for a succession of low scores, the lowest of which was 45 against Warwickshire Club and Ground. No batsman scored as many as fifty in an innings; Hornig’s 250 runs was the highest aggregate, and Rothwell, one of the best batsmen the previous year, could only make 197. TP Lee and the two openers, JET Harper and MJ Lamping, were not very successful. The bowling was potentially even weaker, since Dauncey, Spiers and Disney from the 1957 side had all departed, but on the positive side RA Walters, a fast bowler, who had been ill in 1957, was now fit. He led the bowling averages with 27 wickets, and had figures of 6 for 62 against Solihull, 5 for 46 against RGS Worcester (both losses) and 5 for 27 in a drawn match against Malvern. Hornig