Lives in Cricket No 6 - Bill Copson

full day’s play possible. He did however have considerable success in the fourth of these matches where Derbyshire had a most emphatic win against Middlesex at Derby. Copson and Alfred Pope, bowling unchanged, dismissed them for 76 runs in their second innings. Bill took the first five wickets to fall for a mere five runs, dismissing the strong county quintet of Robertson, Brown, Edrich, Compton and Allen. This was some feat. Derbyshire completed their victory in two days: Copson’s final analysis in the innings was 11-2-39-7. It was not to be expected that Bill would reach the heights of his debut Test match, but in a rain ruined game he bowled twelve overs to take three wickets in the two West Indian innings. Only thirty five minutes’ play was possible on the opening day when England, who had been sent in to bat, scored eleven runs without loss. Further interruptions occurred on the second morning and after lunch England collapsed. Hammond declared at 164 for seven, after a fighting innings of 76 by Hardstaff, who shared a fifth-wicket partnership of 88 runs with Wood. Some excellent bowling by Bowes, who took six West Indian wickets, enabled England to gain a first innings lead of 31 runs. Copson and Goddard each weighed in with two wickets. The last seven wickets went down for thirty seven runs. There were now only four and a half hours of play remaining and England batted somewhat cautiously, finally setting West Indies the impossible task of making 160 runs to win in seventy minutes. The match thus petered out into a draw. Somewhat surprisingly, the selectors thought that Bill had not done quite well enough to retain his place in the Third and final Test Match which was to take place at Kennington Oval on 19, 20 and 21 August. England made four changes from the side chosen for the Old Trafford Test. Bowes and Copson were replaced by Nichols and Perks. Walter Keeton and Norman Oldfield, the latter playing in what was to be his only Test Match, came in for Fagg and Paynter. It was a high scoring match in which 1,216 runs were scored for the loss of only 23 wickets and was left drawn. England had won the three match series by one game to nil. Copson, with 12 wickets at an average of 15.41, took more wickets in the series than any other bowler English or West Indian. He also headed the England bowling averages, which was a creditable performance. He had had a long wait to gain Test Match recognition and could Test Cricket, At Last 55