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

56 completed a valiant all-round performance with 20 wickets. RA Green (medium-pace), RFL Wilkins (off-breaks) and DJL Ashton (slow left-arm) each took a few wickets. The opposition often scored freely, notably Warwick School, who declared their innings at 216 for no wicket. The Old Edwardians made 276 for eight (M Wilkins 70 and BC Homer 63). Only three times could KES bowl an entire side out: the lowest opposition total was 62 by Sebright in the only match won, Hornig leading the way with 5 for 9. This was the only time that KES ever played Sebright, who seemingly provided fairly weak opposition. On the other two occasions on which KES managed to bowl out the opposition, the batsmen could not make enough runs. Probably the best batting display was 120 for three in the first match of the season against the Old Edwardians CC. TP Lee became captain in 1959. Two matches were won, five lost and 13 drawn – a high percentage of draws in an exceptionally fine summer. Nevertheless, this was a better season than the previous one. Lee, Rothwell (now vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Wilkins, Harper, Green and Lamping of the 1958 side formed an experienced nucleus, and Walters, troubled by a back injury for the first half of the season, was a tremendous asset when he returned. HJ Ferns, a left-hand batsman, had played occasionally in 1958, and there were several promising newcomers: JC Mason, a hard-hitting batsman and fast bowler; MS Tracey, a consistent seam bowler; JG Evans a leg-break bowler and useful batsman; and MS Jones, a determined batsman with great powers of concentration. The new players all did well in the early matches: Evans took 5 for 69 and Tracey 4 for 33 against Wyggeston; Mason made 43 in this match, and Jones made 53 in the next match against the Common Room. Generally, the batting was more consistent than in 1958, even though the first victory did not come until late in the season, a four-wicket win over RGS Worcester, when Walters took 6 for 33. Earlier, Walters had celebrated his return to the team with another six-wicket return, 6 for 60, including a hat-trick, against Nottingham High School. He took six wickets a third time, for 24 runs, against Trent College, dismissing them for 94 and cementing the School’s second victory, Jones having scored 65 in a KES total of 180 for nine declared. The best batting came late in the season, Rothwell scoring 63 against Solihull and 76 against Warwick, and Lee 56 against Bromsgrove. AC Smith took time out from captaining Oxford University to play for the Old Edwardians and scored 65. Mason topped the averages with 399 runs; Rothwell scored 414, Jones 314 and Lee 353. PBM Mathews came into the team late in the season and batted well in his eight innings, but the other batsmen were not as successful. Walters, the only match-winning bowler, took 30 wickets. Tracey and Evans did a lot of bowling and achieved moderate success. In 1960, MS Jones became captain of a team without Lee, Rothwell and Walters, but managed to win six matches while only losing five – a good season. The season started with a loss to the Old Edwardians CC, but then came a gradual improvement. In the fourth of four drawn games, against Solihull, KES scored 202 for nine declared and MS Jones made 100. This was the first team total of over 200 since 1956, and Jones was the first batsman to make a century since Alan Smith’s great season the year before that. Solihull finished with 171 for seven. The first victory came in the next match, against Manchester Grammar School. Manchester were dismissed for 140, and all the bowlers contributed: Green, the most experienced, and three bowlers in their first season, MG Smith (leg-breaks), RCJ Page