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

65 produced a run-out as the batsmen attempted to complete the third run. Set 175 by King’s School Worcester, the School reached 143 for two in 80 minutes (Barnfield 68 not out in 37 minutes, MW Davis 48) before rain intervened. JS Lee (85 not out) and CW Bryan scored 85 to break the seventh-wicket record against Warwick, but KES were unable to force a victory. Barnfield made two more large scores – 89 against Wrekin and 64 not out against Manchester Grammar School – without being able to reach the century mark one more time. Cricket Week was good, especially for Taylor, who took 14 wickets in the four games played to bring his total for the season to 61. Rain spoilt the MCC match after the MCC had declared at 154 for six, but KES drew with the Forty Club and the MCCC and beat the Gentlemen of Worcestershire to register the season’s eighth victory. KES were near to defeat against the Forty Club, who declared at 173 for seven (Taylor 5 for 52), but were saved by Nuttall and Taylor, the last pair, holding out at 138 for nine. KES again finished nine wickets down against the MCCC, but this time were only five runs away from the MCCC total of 118; Taylor and Paul each took three wickets. In between these two games, Barnfield scored 71 not out in a KES total of 141 against the Gentlemen of Worcestershire, and Taylor (5 for 44) and Nuttall (3 for 41) bowled KES to victory by 12 runs. Thus ended a most successful season. Barnfield left the School with 1,880 runs – an all-time record; Nuttall and Taylor also left, Nuttall bringing his career total of wickets to 113 and Taylor 99, sadly one short of the hundred wickets that he most certainly deserved. In 1966 MW Davis became captain of a side which was minus these three plus Bowes and Rand. While not up to the previous year’s standard, for obvious reasons, Davis’s side played well and won six matches as against nine losses. This high figure of defeats was due to Davis’s express policy of playing for a definite result. This led to much exciting cricket, and Davis proved a good captain. Davis himself had a good season, with 350 runs to his credit, but the leading player of the season was AM Paul, who in his last season finally revealed his full potential and excelled in every department of the game. He scored 413 runs (average 25.81), took 35 wickets (average 14.94), and fielded brilliantly as usual. The other batsmen were J Pickering, who topped the averages with 303 runs, KA Ogden with 265, and JS Lee with 264. CW Bryan became ill midway through the season and did not play after that. Two new young opening bowlers, Ogden (left-arm) and JP Evans, formed the spearhead of the attack and took 29 and 27 wickets respectively. SA Shaw, not as successful with the bat as in 1965, became a useful auxiliary medium-pace bowler, and JS Lee also took wickets. There was also opportunity for younger players, notably IK Smout and S Gilbert as batsmen and PT Riley as an off-spinner. There was an early victory against Wyggeston, in which match JS Lee made 55, but the team played its best cricket in the middle of the season, starting with a victory against King’s School Worcester by two wickets, with Pickering making 70. Paul played the leading part in the win over Repton Second XI in the next match with a fine all-round performance – 5 for 32 and 42 not out. Against RGS Worcester, KES, batting first, scored 204 for five, Davis (91) and Paul (58) putting on about 140 runs for the second wicket; in a thrilling finish RGS fell one run short, with 203 for five wickets. This was followed by a fine victory against