Fender had greater success for Surrey in 1921. For the second year in succession Surrey played Middlesex in the final game of the season, to decide the County Championship, and again they lost. They finished second in the table, but were hampered by a lack of quality bowling. "Wisden" praised Fender's handling of his modest bowling resources, and stated that much of Surrey's success came from his captaincy. Several of Surrey's wins were very close, and came after Fender declared. Fender included a lob bowler, Trevor Molony, in three games; lob bowling had practically died out from first-class cricket, and Molony was the last specialist underarm bowler selected in county cricket. But Molony met with limited success and faded out of cricket. Owing to the lack of alternatives, Fender had to use his own bowling frequently, and often conceded many runs. "Wisden" said he was generally effective with the ball and described his fielding as "dazzling", but suggested that his best batting came for teams other than Surrey. In all first-class matches Fender completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets for the first time; he scored 1,152 runs at 21.33 and took 134 wickets at 26.58. He also took 53 catches to become the first cricketer to pass 50 catches while completing the double; as of 2016, only Peter Walker has also done so.