Famous Cricketers No 97 - Eddie Paynter

against Australia in 1938 and then on his second and final Test-playing tour to South Africa in the following winter. He hit two magnificent double-centuries in these two rubbers. In South Africa he made 653 runs in eight innings at an average of 101.75 and with two further Tests in 1939 finished his Test career with the remarkably high average of 59.23. His record versus Australia was even better: 595 runs from seven completed innings at an average of 72.77. Altogether he played in 20 Test matches which even in an era when much less Test cricket was played was a considerably lower number than his talents deserved. He was selected as one of Wisden ’s Five Cricketers of the Year. The Second World War brought his first-class career to all intents and purposes to an end. He did not serve in the Forces during the conflict but managed to play a fair amount of one-day cricket. He played in the one first-class inter-county match arranged in the 1945 season against Yorkshire at Bradford Park Avenue. By the beginning of 1946 Eddie was 44 and decided that the strain of playing continuous county cricket would be too much for him. He decided to go into League cricket and the Lancashire committee made him a grant of £1,078. If he had continued playing he would have been the next senior Lancashire player entitled to a county benefit. This was subsequently awarded to Cyril Washbrook in 1948 who amassed the considerable sum for the time of £14,000, which was a record amount not surpassed until 1971. In the winter of 1945 he became licensee of the Sailor Hotel at Addingham and in 1947 of the Roebuck Hotel in Keighley. He was also a full time professional for the Keighley Yorkshire League side from 1946 to 1950. Paynter’s swan song in this country was his splendid performances in two matches in the Harrogate Festival in 1947 in which he played three magnificent innings of 154, 73 and 127. He was not quite finished with the first-class game as he played in two matches on the Commonwealth XI touring side to India and Ceylon in the winter of 1950/51 when he was the assistant manager to the side. He also stood as an umpire for the 1951 season in England appearing in 23 matches. Paynter was one of the most attractive players in the country during the nineteen thirties. Although small in stature he had a wonderful range of attacking strokes and was an excellent fielder. He gained the well deserved reputation of a courageous batsman and was often at his best when his side was in difficulties. He was an emergency wicket-keeper of no mean ability and a dependable fieldsman in most positions. He was perhaps unlucky not to have toured more frequently and not until the late nineteen thirties was he ever sure of a regular place in the Test side. He was a man of extremely good humour and most popular with all his contemporaries. He died on 5th February 1979 at Keighley, Yorkshire. 1926 Paynter made little impression in his first two games for the county. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 1. Lancashire v Somerset, Old Trafford, July 7, 8, 9 (Match drawn) c C.G.Hunt b J.J.Bridges 8 192 214 b J.C.White 0 183 45-3 2. Lancashire v Australians, Liverpool, July 14, 15, 16 (Match drawn) c T.J.E.Andrews b A.J.Richardson 1 234 468-6d 1 st J.L.Ellis b J.Ryder 1 274 5