Wyatt moved from gully to mid-on to coach Mitchell. “Tommy got so fed up with Wyatt telling himwhat to send down that he told him to go on himself – with a few colourful adjectives thrown in – and he was taken off.” He never played for England again, although he was honest enough to acknowledge that his form had not been good enough. Wyatt had been the undoubted victor when the pair were on opposite sides in the 1930 Whitsun game at Derby. Townsend and Storer made hundreds, enabling a declaration at 448 for seven and Warwickshire then lost two wickets for 28. Croom (110) helped Wyatt add 173 for the third wicket, Wyatt going on to 145 in six and a half hours, an innings which included 79 singles. Mitchell had to be content with two for 79. A spectator recalled that the players lunched in a marquee at the back of the pavilion, leaving them with a short walk back to the enclosure. Wyatt and Rev JH Parsons came out and were waylaid by autograph hunters. Wyatt, with an innings to resume, signed only a couple but Jack Parsons satisfied everybody. A year later, in the August Bank Holiday game at Derby, Warwickshire won by nine wickets after Partridge and Mayer reduced the home side to 93 all out. At lunch on Saturday they were 56 for nine but Mitchell laid about him for 29. There was no way back for Derbyshire, particularly as George Paine, the tall slow left-arm bowler, had a five-wicket haul in their second innings. Spin again played a decisive part when Derbyshire won at the County Ground in May 1932, Mitchell and the slow left-hander Tommy Armstrong accounting for 18 of the 20 Warwickshire wickets. Warwickshire just failed to win at Edgbaston in August, Elliott and Mitchell hanging on desperately at the close with eight wickets down. Challenges were now being issued to the Big Six and in 1933 Derbyshire and Warwickshire emerged as contenders. The holiday encounters were bitterly fought. At Birmingham in June, Paine and a leg spinner Harold Jarrett had Derbyshire out for 226, Storer making 94. Wyatt, who succeeded Calthorpe as Warwickshire’s captain, hit 166 and Derbyshire began the last day 107 behind with all their wickets in hand. Lee and Storer shared an opening partnership of 131 but the innings faded and Warwickshire had little difficulty in winning by eight wickets. Ample revenge was gained in glorious August weather at the County Ground. Townsend top scored with 172 not out in a total of 448 for eight before Jackson declared and although Wyatt made an unbeaten hundred the lead was 251. In view of the heat and its effect on his weary bowlers, Jackson did not enforce the follow-on and Derbyshire scored quickly to set a target of 410. The pitch started to deteriorate and Warwickshire, collapsing against Bill Copson and Mitchell, went down to a 317-run defeat. Derbyshire finished sixth in 1933, with Warwickshire a place below them and the following season brought more improvement. Warwickshire had undergone some criticism for playing ‘safe’ cricket but in 1934 victory became the aim. The Ashes series claimed Wyatt for a good part of the summer but in his absence the county found able qualities of leadership in Rev JH Parsons, George Kemp-Welch, Norman Partridge and Len Bates. There were runs from Wyatt, Croom, Kilner, Bates, Santall and a new wicket-keeper-batsman Jack Buckingham. Paine also made useful runs and had a phenomenal season with the ball. Mayer and Eric Hollies, emerging as a leg-break and googly bowler, lent support: indeed Paine and Hollies toured the West Indies under Wyatt’s captaincy in 1934-35. Breaching the Big Six 83