Double Headers

50 Worcestershire players who were killed in the War - perhaps there was a sentimental element to his selection? Harold Shakespeare (his full initials are ‘W.H.N.’ and he is identified as ‘William Shakespeare’ in CricketArchive, but I am assured by those with local knowledge that he was known by his second Christian name) was Worcester born and bred, and educated at the Royal Grammar School there; but he was now 25 years old, so whatever it was that gained him selection, it wasn’t his school performances. Finally, James Higgs-Walker had been in the Repton XI alongside the likes of Freddie Calthorpe and Miles Howell in 1912, but failed to progress beyond the Freshman’s match at Oxford the following season. His sole previous first-class match, for Worcestershire against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham in August 1913, had hardly been an unmitigated triumph, with scores of 0 and 0* to go with bowling figures of 2-0-20-0; but for the Edgbaston game he had the advantage of being principally a bowler in an otherwise bowler-light side, so he joined Burrows, Conway and Hunt to make up essentially a four-man attack. The Worcestershire side chosen for the match at Edgbaston was therefore a classic mix of callow youth and experience, with the former dominating. With their total number of previous first-class matches in brackets, along with the number already played in 1919, the selected XI was as follows: F.J.Abbott (0, 0), E.W.Bale (142, 5), R.D.Burrows (273, 2), R.A.Cave-Rogers (0, 0), A.T.Cliff (31, 5), A.J.Conway (28, 3), J.A.Higgs-Walker (1, 0), F.Hunt (56, 3), H.W. Isaac (0, 0), W.H.N.Shakespeare (0, 0) and J.W.C.Turner (captain; 18, 5). Warwickshire in 1919 The Worcestershire side lines up outside the pavilion at Edgbaston. Standing, l to r: R.A.Cave-Rogers, A.Machell (scorer), F.Hunt, R.D.Burrows, A.J.Conway, E.W.Bale, H.W.Isaac; seated: A.T.Cliff, J.A.Higgs-Walker, J.W.C.Turner, W.H.N.Shakespeare, F.J.Abbott