Lives in Cricket No 49 - Enid Bakewell

23 (though we have no bowling figures). The next day ‘A Nottinghamshire XI’ beat Cheshire, with Enid making 19 as they scored 83 for three to win by seven wickets. On June 20, Enid played for the Midlands against the East at Hertford. Opening the batting, Enid ‘delighted with leg-glances and pushes between mid-on and square’ in an innings of 34, top score in Midlands’ 164. East got there for eight wickets; Enid did not bowl but took a ‘truly memorable’ catch. A week later it was club play again, Enid making 42 out of 201 for six declared then taking two for 16 as Grantham were out for 56. Then on July 4 the Midlands played the South and scored a substantial 245 for eight declared (Enid 10), the South making 174 for five in reply (Enid three for 22). On the following day Miss Willson’s XI made 160 for seven declared and Miss Boyce’s XI 50 (Enid three for eight). Midlands trials were washed out, though by this time Enid was an established member of the team. On July 12 Nottingham played Edgbaston: Women’s Cricket reported a win for Nottingham though the scores do not appear to bear that out, Edgbaston making 158 for seven declared (Enid two for 20), Nottingham 136 for seven (Enid 59), and on the July 14 it reported Nottingham 136 for seven (Enid 59) again – but this time apparently against Melton. There was a session of coaching at Lilleshall and the first time Enid had had any serious coaching, on this occasion from June Bragger and June Howard from Edgbaston Ladies. June Howard was an international hockey umpire. June Bragger, the captain of Edgbaston and of Midlands teams, coached and later umpired at Lord’s. But probably not at school – Enid was told by a woman PE adviser in Nottinghamshire that she could teach cricket in a club after school, but not at school because it was unladylike. Shirley Driscoll would captain the side to Holland, essentially a Young England side, which would be announced after the match between the WCA and the Rest on July 10 and 11 at the Oval. Enid did not play in this game, possibly taking her A levels, but was included in the squad for the Netherlands tour. Also in the side was Rachael Heyhoe from Wolverhampton, who had played with Enid for the Midlands and, a year or so older, was already at Dartford Training College. Rachael Heyhoe Flint remembers that they had to find £7 11 shillings - to cover the fare from London. Enid said ‘ Molly Hide managed the team to Netherlands and I thought of her as royalty and was shocked when they started calling her Aunty Moll. She had a great sense of humour. We had a very well-built Lancashire lass, Audrey Winterbottom, known as ‘frostytip’ who tripped and fell full length as she came to the edge of the matting strip (no turf wickets in Holland then) and Molly shouted ‘You could feel the vibrations on the boundary’. In the first match on July 25, Enid did not bat as the WCA made 139 for five declared. The Netherlands side then made 67 for six in 53 overs, Enid’s figures being 9-4-13-2. In the second match, the next day, the WCA scored 215 for four declared (Enid getting a bat but out for three). The Grammar school