Famous Cricketers No 82 - H.E. 'Tom' Dollery

1933 At the age of eighteen, and on the back of his good form with Berkshire, Tom Dollery commenced his first-class career as an amateur with two matches for Minor Counties while he was qualifying for Warwickshire. He was a bit unlucky in not scoring a century on his first-class debut against Oxford University. Coming in at number six in the second innings he shared a rapid century stand with C.B.Fordham (Hertfordshire), that put their team in a winning position. The Counties captain delayed his declaration in order to let Fordham score his second century of the match, but Dollery was left fifteen short. If he felt a little aggrieved at the time, his captain was well and truly vindicated, as the Counties bowled the University out with only four minutes to spare. In his other game for the Counties he had his first taste of international cricket against the touring West Indians, only to fail twice against left-arm spinner Achong, the original “Chinaman”. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct St Total Total 1. Minor Counties v Oxford University, The Parks, May 17, 18, 19 (Minor Counties won by 158 runs) b D.C.H.Townsend 2 379-9d 248 not out 85 212-4d 185 2. Minor Counties v West Indians, Lord’s, June 17, 19, 20 (Match drawn) c G.C.Grant b E.E.Achong 6 253 229 b E.E.Achong 1 190-5d 64-4 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St Other matches 2 4 1 94 85* 31.33 - 1 - - 1934 Tom Dollery’s two-year qualification was actually completed on the opening day of his county debut against Yorkshire; he got his chance as R.E.S.Wyatt was away captaining England in the Fourth Test against Australia. His debut match was the most eventful of Warwickshire’s season. After being bowled out in their first innings for 45, a brilliant second innings 94 by the Reverend Parsons enabled them to scrape a one wicket win against the odds, their first against Yorkshire since 1927. A nervous Dollery contributed next to nothing, nearly bagging a debut “pair”, as his one scrambled run in the first innings almost ran out his captain, Parsons. He no doubt learnt a great deal about “pressure” however in the tense atmosphere in which the game was played. He kept his place for the rest of the season, except for the game against the touring Australians when he was dropped for the one and only time in his career, (this was to enable Parsons to make his farewell appearance for the county against the tourists). Although he had done nothing startling he showed steady improvement and it was obvious that at the age of nineteen he had tremendous potential. Warwickshire had their best season since winning the Championship in 1911 and finished in fourth place. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct St Total Total 3. Warwickshire v Yorkshire, Scarborough, July 18, 19, 20 (Warwickshire won by one wicket) c K.R.Davidson b H.S.Hargreaves 1 45 101 c A.Wood b G.G.Macaulay 0 216-9 159 4. Warwickshire v Gloucestershire, Edgbaston, July 21, 23, 24 (Warwickshire won by ten wickets) hit wkt b G.W.Parker 10 336 165 2 did not bat - 56-0 226 5. Warwickshire v Sussex, Hove, July 28, 30, 31 (Match drawn) b M.W.Tate 3 269 251 b M.W.Tate 33 270-8d 183-3 12