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

Derief Taylor, who notched his maiden hundred. Taylor was a rare character who had met Dollery in Italy during the war and left his native Jamaica to try his luck in county cricket. He never quite made the grade on the field, but turned out to be one of the best coaches Warwickshire, or anyone else for that matter, ever had, especially when it came to bringing on youngsters. Another huge stand followed in the next game against Hampshire at Bournemouth, this time 217 for the 4th wicket with Ord made in only 140 minutes! Dollery took ninety-five minutes over his first fifty but then needed only another twenty-five to reach his “ton”. He hit a real purple patch in the middle of July, nearly scoring four centuries on the trot. On the Wagon Works Ground at Gloucester he surpassed all his previous efforts with his first double century, exactly 200 made in three hours twenty-five minutes with four sixes and twenty-two fours, “off-driving and cutting beautifully without making any serious error”, as Wisden records. In the second innings he followed this up with a tremendous effort; with the wicket breaking up and all the batsmen in trouble against that great off-spinner Tom Goddard, he came in and hit 73 in only sixty-five minutes, including five sixes off Goddard who took eight wickets but had 70 runs hit off him in 14.3 overs. Travelling across country to Maidstone next day, Warwickshire and Kent staged one of the best games of the season, much of the credit going to the two professional skippers, (Les Ames was captaining Kent), who according to Wisden handled the game splendidly besides both batting brilliantly. Ames contributed 69 and 160 and Dollery 95 and 118, (the nearest he got to scoring two hundreds in a match), as they both top scored in each of their side’s innings. Dollery added 152 with Ken Taylor in the first innings, and when set to score 277 to win in three hours he played a great innings to try and steer his side to victory. He hit a six and eighteen fours in less than two hours, but when he was out at 262 with five wickets left and only 15 needed to win, the other batsmen panicked and the last over arrived with five runs needed to win with two wickets left, but they could only score three runs while losing another wicket, so his great innings was all to no avail. He followed this with fifties against Derbyshire and the New Zealanders and his sixth century of the season against Leicestershire, who were now getting as fed up with him as Derbyshire were. He reached three figures in only ninety-five minutes with a six and sixteen fours in what Wisden described as a sparkling display, to set up a Warwickshire win. The purple patch ended next match against Glamorgan, (one of his “bogey” counties), on a green pitch at Courtaulds, Coventry, when Wilf Wooller got him out for a “duck”. His previous nine innings had yielded 791 runs at an average of 88.78! His batting tailed off to an extent after this but Warwickshire had a great August and until a heavy defeat in a vital game at Scarborough to eventual Joint-Champions, Yorkshire, they were serious contenders for the Championship. He had passed 2,000 runs for the first time, batted brilliantly all season, oversaw a record benefit and led his side positively to a position where they challenged for the Championship title. He had well and truly laid to rest the theory that a professional couldn’t successfully lead a county team and maintain his own form; he had positively thrived on the extra responsibility. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct St Total Total 225. Warwickshire v Gloucestershire, Edgbaston, May 7, 9, 10 (Warwickshire won by six wickets) * b C.Cook 13 269 84 not out 69 166-4 347 226. Warwickshire v Worcestershire, Edgbaston, May 11, 12, 13 (Warwickshire won by 136 runs) * c R.E.S.Wyatt b P.F.Jackson 10 283 172 c R.T.D.Perks b P.F.Jackson 6 96 71 227. Warwickshire v Glamorgan, Swansea, May 14, 16, (17) (Match drawn) * c H.G.Davies b W.E.Jones 13 131-5 388-5d 228. Warwickshire v Surrey, Edgbaston, May 21, 23, 24 (Surrey won by 28 runs) * lbw b G.A.R.Lock 0 124 234 b G.A.R.Lock 34 205 123 229. Warwickshire v Worcestershire, Worcester, May 28, 30, 31 (Worcestershire won by 175 runs) * c R.E.S.Wyatt b R.Howorth 30 190 323 c D.Kenyon b R.O.Jenkins 14 123 165-3d 34