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

61 Chapter Eleven START OF ANOTHER ERA? 1963-1966 For history of any sort to be understood clearly, it must be seen in perspective. This is not really possible for recent history, because it has not yet had time to fit into its proper background. Thus, it is difficult to write the story of the last four years with proper detachment, since the events of which I am writing are so recent, and since I have been closely connected with them as scorer for the seasons 1963 to 1965. Nevertheless, let us proceed. Of the 1962 side, only Page, Watts, Barnfield, Shenstone and Rees remained at School in 1963 – only three really prominent members of the 1962 side. To them were added RI Nuttall, a promising fast bowler from the second eleven, WR Sykes, a batsman from the same source, and three young cricketers: PA Bowes, a promising wicket-keeper and left-hand bat, and seam bowlers DB Taylor and DR Field. The side started with two fine victories against the Old Edwardians CC and Wyggeston, and finished with eight wins as against four losses. The main strength lay in the bowling, as indicated by the lowness of the averages – this was a state of affairs that had not existed for some years. The opening attack of Nuttall and Taylor proved a good spearhead, and Nuttall, with 41 wickets at 10.07, had a very successful first season. Taylor developed during the season, finishing with 20 wickets at 17.55, but Field, with 13 wickets, did not fulfil expectations. The leading bowler was Page, with 55 wickets at 11.00 in his last season. Watts was not as successful as in 1962. With this attack, the batting was not often called upon to make large scores, but was quite strong nevertheless. It was led by JA Barnfield, who scored 520 runs; he was clearly in a class of his own, since JD Rees, the next in line, made only 287, and AJ Watts and RCJ Page around two hundred. Rees batted well and produced some attacking strokes that had not been in evidence in 1962. MR Shenstone seemed to lose his bowling ability and did not bat very well. PA Bowes made useful runs and was the best wicket-keeper since AC Smith. There was some exciting cricket. Bowling against a total of 88, Nuttall and Taylor each took four Old Edwardians CC wickets and secured victory by four runs. Barnfield and Watts put on 101 for the third wicket against Wyggeston in 65 minutes, to win the match by seven wickets. Page took 6 for 46 against Wrekin, but the batsmen for once let him down. Rees made 62 not out in three and a half hours against Denstone, a great feat of concentration, allowing KES to declare at 155 for seven; Watts (6 for 66) and Page (4 for 58) bowled Denstone out for 144. Page had 5 for 16 in the next match against Wolverhampton GS. The season reached its peak against RGS Worcester. Nuttall (5 for 16) and Page (5 for 48) bowled RGS out for 154, and KES made the runs for the loss of three wickets, Barnfield scoring 116 not out in 104 minutes (15 fours, two fives and two sixes). He and Bowes shared a partnership of 90 for the third wicket, of which Bowes, in those days a slow scorer with great powers of concentration, scored 10 not out. (The year earlier, for the Warwickshire