This morning B6D led the assembly, which appropriately for the summer term was about cricket. This is Mr Dawes’s second passion (the first being fishing) and the pupils spoke about some of the cricketers most admired by Mr Dawes. 3 stood out. The first was Edgar Wilsher, who very daringly in 1862 bowled over arm for the first time. Until then all bowling was underarm. The umpire gave a no ball, but the seed was sewn & I doubt if cricket would have become so popular if underarm bowling had remained. The second cricketer was an Old Boy of Lockers Park, the Nawab of Pataudi, who was the Indian Cricket Captain. His was a story of grit and determination because in his early 20s he was involved in a serious road crash and lost the sight of an eye. For most people that would have been career over, but he was so determined he was playing 5 months later and went on to captain the Indian team that beat England in a series for the first time. Most importantly he was a thoroughly nice gentleman as well. The third player was Basil d’Olivera who was of mixed race. He was eventually chosen to play for England against South Africa. When the South African Government objected because of his race, the tour was abandoned and South Africa began 22 years of sporting exclusion. Thank you for bringing cricket alive this morning B6D.
