Famous Cricketers No 97 - Eddie Paynter

Eddie Paynter Edward Paynter was born on 5th November 1901 at 14 Horton Street, Oswaldtwistle in the Registration district of Blackburn, Lancashire. He was the third child of Arnold and Mary Paynter (née Thompson). His elder brother Arnold was killed by enemy action in France on 31st, July 1917. Eddie, as he became universally known, attended Mount Pleasant Council School in Enfield, Lancs. He left school at the age of twelve to take part-time employment in a cotton spinning mill. He lost the ends of the first and second fingers of his right hand in a factory accident in 1919. He joined the Enfield Cricket Club, his father Arnold being captain of the second eleven, and played for the first team in 1920. He showed considerable promise and as a result was called to Old Trafford to take part in the county coaching scheme under the supervision of J.T.Tyldesley and T.Lancaster. In 1921 Paynter made two appearances for Lancashire Second XI as an amateur. In the following season he signed for Barrow and later returned to Enfield where he made his first half century at the end of June. Eddie made further appearances for Lancashire Second XI in 1924 and 1925 and made his first century for the county, 124 against Staffordshire at Old Trafford, in the latter season. Altogether he made 363 runs in 17 innings in the Minor Counties Championship in which Lancashire finished third. As a result of his satisfactory performances in 1925 Paynter was engaged by the county club on the full-time staff for the 1926 season at a wage of £4/10s (£4.50p) per week for the summer months. He made his first-class debut against Somerset on 7th July at Old Trafford and also played against the Australian touring team at Liverpool. On 27th February 1927 he married May Smith at Sydney Street Methodist Church, Enfield. There was one child of this marriage, Edward, born on 24th June 1934 at Haslingden. A grandson of Edward junior, David Edward Paynter, and therefore Eddie’s great-grandson, who was born on 25th January 1981 in Truro, played five first-class matches for Northamptonshire in 2002 and 2003. Eddie made a further few first team appearances for Lancashire in 1927 and 1929 but it was not until 1930 that he gained a regular place in the championship side at the fairly advanced age for a budding professional cricketer of twenty eight. Thereafter he made rapid progress. He reached one thousand runs in a season in the following year and never failed to reach this target until the onset of the Second World War when like so many others his career was abruptly interrupted and in his case never resuscitated as a county player. He made his Test debut in 1931 at Old Trafford in a rain-ruined match against the visiting New Zealanders who were making their first Test-playing tour to this country but only managed a single innings of 3. In 1932 Paynter had a greatly improved season, making over two thousand runs and earning himself a much coveted place on the notorious tour of Australia and New Zealand captained by Douglas Jardine in which England regained the Ashes. On this trip, in the Fourth Test at Brisbane, Paynter achieved stardom by his courageous return to the crease after a spell in hospital suffering from tonsillitis when he defied the full might of the Australian bowling in an epic first innings of 83. He returned home to a hero’s welcome at Enfield, receiving an illuminated address at the Mechanics Hall in April 1933. Despite his success down under Paynter did not play in another Test match until some four years later as he had a series of relatively disappointing results, failing to score much more than fifteen hundred runs in the following three summers of 1933, 1934 and 1935. He played twice in 1937, again against the New Zealanders, making 74 in his only innings at Lord’s and 40 for twice out at Old Trafford. His county season was remarkable and he made nearly three thousand runs which included his highest ever score of 322 at Hove against Sussex. Even so his Test record to the end of this season was still disappointing, some 450 runs from nine matches, five of which had been against one of the weakest Test sides at the time, New Zealand. He then however came into his own and had two excellent series 4