Colin Cowdrey
Cowdrey was asked to play for Kent Young Amateurs in 1948 and made 157 against Sussex Young Amateurs, 87 against Middlesex Young Amateurs and 79 against Surrey Young Amateurs. He was asked to join the Kent Second XI in 1949 and played Norfolk, Wiltshire and Devon. In 1949–1950 Cowdrey was made the school cricket captain and in 1950 made 126 not out for Public Schools against the Combined Services at Lords. This was followed by being called up for Kent County Cricket Club while still only 17 and he made 15 and 26 on his first-class debut against Derbyshire.
Colin Cowdrey
When Cowdrey was five he was taken to England and attended Homefield Preparatory School, Sutton in 1938–45, where the headmaster Charles Walford instilled in him the purity of batting technique that would become Cowdrey's hallmark. Cowdrey made a century in his first game for the school, but a recount made it only 93 and Jack Hobbs sent him a letter of commiseration and a cricket bat. His parents returned to India in 1938 and because of the Second World War he did not see them again until they came back to Britain in 1945. During the holidays he stayed with relatives in Croydon and Bognor Regis, where he watched dog-fights in the Battle of Britain and on his uncle's farm near Market Bosworth.