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

snobbery and the belief that a paid employee couldn’t possibly be a leader of men, (the “them and us syndrome”). Dollery accepted the proposition, seeing it as a great opportunity to further his career. The record books state that he was made Joint-Captain in 1948 with Maudsley but this is untrue, Dollery himself stating that he was never made official Joint-Captain, (see My Life Story published by The Birmingham Gazette 1952), he was only ever asked to stand in until Maudsley was available. The Committee were full of misgivings about the situation and he was even asked if he would change in the amateurs’ dressing room away from his fellow professionals in the games when he was skipper. He turned this daft idea down flat, and at least some of the Committee must have been living in the twentieth century, as from the start of this season the amateurs’ dressing room was turned into the “Home Team” dressing room and they all changed together. The extra responsibility didn’t do his batting any harm as he put the poor form of the previous season behind him and started the new one with a run of consistent scoring. The Committee may have thought they had done the wrong thing, when in his first match in charge of an all professional eleven against Nottinghamshire on a typical Trent Bridge featherbed, Warwickshire were soundly beaten with only Jimmy Ord, (a century in each innings), and Dollery himself offering any opposition. Worse followed over the next two days at Old Trafford when Lancashire this time scored well over 400 and made Warwickshire follow on over 200 behind and had them three down for only four runs at the close of the second day. Fortunately, Dollery himself was not out overnight and he scored a typical captain’s century next day to inspire the rest of the batsmen to hold out for a well earned draw. On to Derby the next day and he was once again leading from the front with a tremendous 167 made in four and a quarter hours with fifteen fours; the Derbyshire bowlers were getting heartily sick of the sight of him by now. The comprehensive victory that followed must have put the minds of the doubters on the Committee at rest, and they must have been even more assured when over the next three days back at Edgbaston, Dollery led his team to Warwickshire’s first victory against Yorkshire at Edgbaston since 1893, (and Warwickshire were a second class county then). He played another captain’s innings in this game, coming in again with three wickets down for only a handful of runs and scoring half his team’s runs with a magnificent 95 on a tricky pitch, unluckily just missing yet another century. Even more heroics followed in the next match, their third win on the trot against Essex, as he once more had to come to the rescue at 38 for five in a crisis in the first innings. They still needed by far the biggest total of a low scoring match to win batting last however, but the skipper rose to the occasion once more with an unbeaten 78 made in two and three quarter hours to guide his team to a narrow two-wicket win. After handing over to Maudsley, who made himself available for the match against his old University, Dollery was back in charge again against Somerset at Wells. After losing most of the first two days to rain, the match came down to a battle for first innings points, but even then play didn’t start until after lunch on the last day. Somerset were shot out for 79 but Warwickshire once more made a poor start, this time losing their first three wickets for seven runs; enter the skipper once more, and he soon settled things with a dazzling little innings of 62 not out with two sixes and five fours to secure the points, (five other batsmen managed 19 runs between them!) This was followed by another win against Leicestershire when he was the only batsman in the match to pass fifty on a bad pitch. Another win against Northants and a loss to Surrey at The Oval, (Dollery once again the only batsman on either side to reach fifty in the match), and he handed over to Maudsley as he took off for England duty at Lord’s. He handed over a team on the crest of a wave, lying third in the Championship with five wins and two defeats; the stand-in had more than justified the Committee’s decision! By the time of the First Test in early June against Don Bradman’s “Invincible” Australians, Dollery had scored 786 runs at an average of 71.45, and really ought to have been selected, but the ageing Joe Hardstaff and Charles Barnett were picked at numbers five and six after Hutton, Washbrook, Edrich and Compton, (how England could do with a top four like that these days!) He was selected strictly on merit for the Second Test at Lord’s but after restricting Australia to a reasonable score, England had to bat in poor light against Lindwall at his best and he came in with the score at 46 for three after Lindwall had clean bowled Bill Edrich by sheer pace. The same fate befell Dollery who was also 30