As the results show the School had a fairly good season last year. Owing to lack of experience and match practice our batsmen started very uncertainly and were dismissed for under the half century in the first two games. This did not seem to dampen the spirit and determination of the side and we did much better later in the season.
The batting suffered owing to the soft wickets. Runs were hard to score and it was not surprising to find at the end of the season that only four players had scored over a hundred runs. We had difficulty in finding a pair of really reliable openers who were safe yet could still score runs. Because of this the opening pair changed from time to time but usually with little success. Two good opening batsmen are what are needed for next season if we can hope for really first-class, entertaining cricket.
The bowlers, however, aided by the soft wickets, which caused mistakes by the opposition batsmen, had a. successful season. This was fortunate for the School, as without this accurate bowling, which was often in evidence, the meagre totals achieved by the batsmen would have easily been passed by the opposition. All the school bowlers have shown that they can bowl on a good length, and so they must now learn to use the ball more skilfully. If, as we all hope, there is a fine summer in 1961, then the bowlers will find it much harder to take wickets by merely bowling 'straight up and down'.
The fielding of the 1st XI varied tremendously. On some occasions it was very good but on others it was very poor. Practice is essential in all branches of cricket, but unfortunately fielding is neglected. This needs to be practised by all cricketers whether they are in the first form of a grammar school or playing for their Country.
In the forthcoming season we can hope for improvements in our 1st XI owing to the added experience of our players. It is therefore hoped that the younger members of the School will come along to watch some entertaining cricket, and give support to their School as often as possible.
The School has been lucky for the past eleven years in having a cricket master who has taken his job seriously yet with a friendly spirit. Wherever the School teams were found playing, Mr. Miles was in evidence. Unfortunately for us he has now gone to a school in Harlow and we all send him our best wishes for his future career.