Lives in Cricket No 6 - Bill Copson

This was to be his last overseas first-class match: he was not quite twenty nine years of age and could reasonably expect to be considered for further tours, if he could maintain his form and fitness. In this match he took a further four wickets, three of them in the first innings. MCC won the game fairly easily by seven wickets. Copson had finished the tour by heading the first-class bowling averages with the not unsatisfactory record of 27 wickets for 535 runs at an average of 19.81 in eight first-class matches. In seven minor matches he took fifteen wickets at 9.20. Although he had scarcely come near selection for the Test side, he had gained experience of bowling on Australian wickets which he probably thought would stand him well in future. Wisden , in fact, said he bowled well ‘when he found a pitch to suit him.’ Overall though, his tour was a disappointment. Only George Duckworth, the reserve wicket-keeper played in fewer first-class matches, and Copson’s absences from the side, admittedly because of injury, had enabled Voce and Farnes to stake a better claim in the Test teams. His position was highlighted by a dismissive remark made by the team manager to the News Chronicle when the team finally returned to London. Asked why Copson had not played in any of the Tests, he simply said, ‘Because he wasn’t selected.’ The MCC team was now to embark on an exciting finale to their arduous tour. They were scheduled to return to England via the United States of America, thus completing their journey round the world. The tourists left Auckland on 3 April in the S.S.Mariposa for Los Angeles where they arrived a fortnight later, on 17 April. The team had the unforgettable experience of being shown round the Metro Goldwyn Mayer film studio at Hollywood, by special invitation, on their brief visit. The cricketers met Binnie Barnes and Eleanor Powell and had their photographs taken with various film stars. They were then taken to see filming of a scene from The Prisoner of Zenda , starring Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll and Raymond Massey. The team met C.Aubrey Smith, the veteran film actor who had emigrated to America in the 1930s and who also starred in the film. An excellent cricketer before he took up acting, he had won four Blues at Cambridge University, and played once for England when he captained R.G.Warton’s side on their tour of South Africa in 1888/89, and appeared in 99 matches for Sussex between 1882 and 1896. He was a most enthusiastic expatriate who still retained his passion for the game. He ran his own Australia and New Zealand 41