Lives in Cricket No 6 - Bill Copson

48 and ten in 53, all on the same day, a remarkable feat indeed. He took a further three wickets in this innings to finish with match figures of eleven for 93. In this match he also had success with the bat, scoring an undefeated 30, including seven fours, out of 36 for the last wicket with Tommy Mitchell. Derbyshire won this game comfortably within two days. He had a further five wickets in an innings against Essex at Ilkeston at the end of July, but then missed four further games through injury. Rest seemed to do him good, and as with his previous absence, he returned to take another eight wickets in an innings. In the match against Sussex at Derby, bowling on a rain-affected pitch, he had the impressive figures of eight for 64. 22 Thanks to a superb score of 238 from Stanley Worthington, who retired hurt through cramp, Derbyshire defeated the visitors very easily by nine wickets. All in all, Copson, apart from his occasional flashes of exceptional bowling, had for him a somewhat disappointing season, although he had missed a number of matches because of injuries. His elevation to Test match status seemed to still be somewhat distant. Fast bowlers selected for the three Test Matches against the visiting New Zealand side included Gover (another successful season with 201 wickets), Voce, Jim Smith, Wellard and Austin Matthews. If Bill had struck anything like his form of the previous summer and shown more consistency in his performances, he would surely have received preference over any of these last three. For Derbyshire, the advance of George Pope was most pleasing. He had played only a small part in the Championship success the previous season because of injury. In 1937 he narrowly missed completing the cricketer’s double and scored three centuries. Tommy Mitchell, like Copson, was troubled by injury, when he broke his wrist. At the end of the season the county club arranged for Copson to undergo a thorough medical examination because he was too valuable a commodity to lose regularly through injury. The results, however, seem to have been inconclusive. * * * * * Test Cricket, At Last 47 22 Copson had rather more success at Derby than Chesterfield. He played 46 first-class matches at Derby, taking 248 wickets at 15.28, with five wickets in an innings sixteen times. At Chesterfield in 45 matches he took only 153 wickets at 20.32, with only six five-wicket returns.