Lives in Cricket No 6 - Bill Copson

been brought in to replace Mitchell and was playing his first county match for over twelve months. It was an unsatisfactory way to win the title, losing away to Somerset in a small country town, with calculations being made about average points per match, no doubt on the backs of cigarette packets, and with the opposition’s big hitter getting his name in the papers. The Press were both kind to Copson and critical of him, as is their wont. The Times for example reported of Derbyshire, ‘They owe much to Copson, who can come remarkably fast off the pitch and who has again and again taken those quick wickets which are of such immense moral and material importance to a side.’ But it added, ‘His action is not everything that could be desired, but the wickets fall, and Copson is prominent in the analyses.’ 30 Annus Mirabilis Home grown. Derbyshire’s succesful side of 1936. Standing (l to r): H.Elliott (wk), L.F.Townsend, W.H.Copson, H.Parker (scorer), A.V.Pope, D.Smith, C.S.Elliott. Seated: H.Storer, T.S.Worthington, A.W.Richardson (captain), T.B.Mitchell, A.E.Alderman. Readers may perhaps recall that another version of this photograph has the team’s masseur, J.Bennett, peering over Copson’s shoulder.