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

3 wickets. Nine years later, in 1857, there was another notable victory, when KES beat the Birmingham Club by the very large margin of 136 runs. KES were dismissed in their first innings for 51, with JB Marston, who opened, carrying his bat for 30 not out. Birmingham led on first innings, but only by 2 runs, thanks to GAE Kempston who took 6 wickets. However, KES then scored 174, with JB Marston again playing a vital role by scoring 54, the first recorded 50. (The next highest contribution to the total was extras, with 39.) Kempson then took another 4 wickets as Birmingham were bowled out for 36. As will be apparent, in these games there was usually enough time available for each side to have two innings. If there was insufficient time to reach such a result, the convention was for the game to be decided on the first innings. This is what in fact happened in the game against Shrewsbury in 1854 mentioned above. Though Hutton says that the result was a draw, the game was in fact a victory for KES on the first innings. Even where it was agreed that there would only be one innings each, the side batting second often batted on after winning. Many of these early matches were against Bromsgrove School – the preservation of so many scores of these games no doubt being due to commendable industry on the part of some Bromsgrove researcher. Between 1848 and 1862 we know of 14 such matches, of which Bromsgrove won 12. For the first of the two KES victories, in 1851, we only have the bare scores. KES led on first innings, 55 to 41; KES then made the very high score of 161 in its second innings, and needing 174 to win Bromsgrove could only manage 113 for 5 before stumps were drawn. KES thus won the game on first innings. The second match, in 1854, was a comprehensive victory for KES by an innings and 46 runs. KES, batting first, made as many as 201, with four players making scores in the 20s and 30s (all exceeded by extras with 41). Bromsgrove were dismissed for 47 and 108; Williams took 10 wickets. These were probably the strongest years in the period from 1848 to 1872: nine of the 18 recorded victories were registered between 1850 and 1857. This was the period when the two Marshall brothers were at KES, Joseph from about 1849 to 1854 and John from about 1850 to 1855. Both went on to win Blues for Cambridge, Joseph in 1855, 1856 and 1857 and John in 1859. Joseph, a right-hand opening batsman and fast round-arm bowler, was perhaps lucky to get the first of his Blues in 1855, but performed well in 1856, making the winning hit, and he scored 48 in 1857. John, mainly a batsman, was only in the Cambridge side for one year, but made a considerable impact on the match, making 38 not out in the first innings in a low-scoring match in which Cambridge were eventually victorious by 28 runs. Both Marshalls became clergymen but continued to play cricket, including occasional appearances in matches now counted as first-class, Joseph for Cambridge Town and John for Cambridgeshire. I have written about their careers in more detail in an article in the Old Edwardians Gazette (June 2004). While not much information about their performances at KES has survived, Joseph took 8 wickets in the 1854 match against Shrewsbury, and scored 38 and took 8 wickets in the innings victory over Bromsgrove in the same year. Later in 1854, in the return match against Bromsgrove (played in September), the brothers each took 5 wickets in the Bromsgrove first innings, Joseph adding another 4 in