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
In 1950, the spinners Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine had confounded the England batsmen to give the West Indies a 3–1 series win. Ramadhin still exerted his hold, taking 7/49 to dismiss England for 186 in the first innings of the First Test at Edgbaston. The West Indies made 474 and Cowdrey joined Peter May at 113/3 in the second innings, still 175 runs behind. May wrote of Cowdrey's "steadying influence on me when I was charging down the wicket and trying to hit everyone into the car park. I recall he calmed me down and said occupation of the crease was the vital requirement!" Cowdrey ruthlessly padded away any ball from Ramadhin outside off stump, where he could not be given out leg before wicket. "It was typical of Cowdrey that he should work out the theory so punctiliously", but his tactic became popular with less talented batsmen to the complaints of purists and detriment of the game. May made 285 not out and Cowdrey 154, his first Test century in England, and together they added 411 runs in 511 minutes, the third highest stand in Test cricket at the time, the highest for the fourth wicket until 2009, the highest stand ever made for England and the highest stand against the West Indies by any team.