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

1951 This season, the highlight of Tom Dollery’s career was nearly a non-starter as far as he was concerned, for he was still suffering badly from sciatica when the pre-season nets began. It says much for his natural athleticism and fitness that this was the first serious injury, apart from his shoulder, that he had picked up in his career. Intensive treatment from the club’s physiotherapist, David Williams, gradually cleared it up however and he was free from pain by the middle of May. Warwickshire had challenged strongly for the Championship in the two previous seasons under Dollery, and apart from his concern at the continuing lack of an off-spinner he was sure they would put in a strong challenge once again. Hollies was most unlikely to be chosen for the Tests after his poor tour of Australia and Dollery’s time was past; indeed the only player with any real Test prospects was wicket-keeper Dick Spooner, but when Godfrey Evans lost form the selectors turned to Don Brennan the Yorkshire amateur instead, so he had a stable team at his command, barring injury. “An extraordinary team of ordinary cricketers” was how he always liked to refer to his side who carried off the Championship this season, and crucially there were no major injuries to worry about during the campaign. The team was settled from the start and twelve players played in virtually all the games, Don Taylor losing his batting place to Ray Hitchcock half way through the season. The young pace bowlers Roley Thompson and Jack Bannister had a few games towards the end of the season when Tom Pritchard was injured, and a sign of the times was that the only amateur to get a game was Esmond Lewis who deputised for the injured Dick Spooner in the very last game of the season. Although it was essentially a team effort, in match after match one of them would come off with an outstanding individual performance and in the end they were worthy winners by a margin of 32 points from Yorkshire, (who they did the”double” over), with a Warwickshire record sixteen wins. The only team to beat them before the Championship was wrapped up was Lancashire, when the batting broke down in both innings. Dollery’s personal contribution was outstanding once again as he finished second to Dick Spooner in the batting averages, and his captaincy won praise throughout the campaign as his positive approach with declarations kept games alive. His uncanny knack of reading pitches was exemplified when he predicted that Yorkshire wouldn’t get 50 in their second innings at Huddersfield; they were all out for 49! His best efforts with the bat were nearly all reserved for a crisis situation or when runs were needed quickly. If the win at Huddersfield was down to the bowlers, the win at Lord’s owed everything to a superb last innings effort from Spooner, ably backed up by the other batsmen. Set 343 in just over five hours after being 150 behind on first innings, Warwickshire hit off the runs with seven minutes to spare with Dollery guiding them home after a mini collapse with a cool 40 not out. A daring declaration against Nottinghamshire, when he left them 243 in three hours ten minutes paid off, as although Notts had over 100 on the board in less than an hour, he had read the pitch correctly once again as Hollies went through the rest as the pitch increasingly took spin. In the return at Trent Bridge, both captains made bold declarations to keep the game alive on the last day when 425 runs were scored in four hours forty minutes of play; in this case Reg Simpson’s gamble didn’t come off as he declared behind. His batting came into its own in a vital couple of weeks in late July that effectively settled the fate of the Championship, starting with 78, the highest score of the match in the low scoring win against Middlesex. The next game against Lancashire saw record crowds flocking into Edgbaston as the home side, leading the Championship met the only team to beat them so far. Dollery came to the rescue in the first innings with a top score 55 out of 184 but Cyril Washbrook put his team in total command with 209 not out. On the last day Warwickshire had nothing to play for but to avoid a second defeat by their Red Rose rivals and to prevent them from gaining vital ground on them. The skipper also knew that a fighting display of resistance would do wonders for team morale going into the second half of the season, so he set out to lead from the front as partners came and went. He notched his first century of the season in three and a half hours on a turning pitch, and despite the fact 42