Lives in Cricket No 15 - Michael Falcon

most of his chance, making 44 in the first innings and 60 in the second. In the first innings he played second fiddle to Cyril Wright, helping him put on 123 runs for the fifth wicket, but in his second knock, he played a lone hand, batting for two hours before being last out. Both the Manchester Guardian and the Daily Telegraph praised his 60, whilst noting that he was missed in the slips before he had opened his account, but The Times was less enthusiastic about his stand with Wright, stating that neither played particularly well. Falcon went on to play steady innings against Surrey and in a return game with Sussex which earned him mixed reviews. The Times reported that a tedious innings of 37 in 110 minutes earned him some ironical applause, but the Manchester Guardian described his batting as ‘cool and restrained’ and his scoring strokes were referred to as ‘well-made without being wholly conventional in the sense of the average public-school coach’. This doesn’t seem like unconditional praise, but the paper leavened this with the news that he had been awarded his Blue. The highlight of the University season for Michael Falcon came in the return fixture with MCC at Lord’s. The Daily Telegraph , like the magazine Cricket, disagreed with the Guardian, dated the award of his Blue to this match and reported that he started nervously but improved greatly later on, hitting very cleanly and confidently in his innings of 122. The Times observed fine drives and leg-glances in an admirable innings whilst the Manchester Guardian – describing Falcon as the ‘most dependable bat on the side’ – made the first of what were to become many references to his driving on both sides of the wicket. He hit 15 fours in an innings of two hours 15 minutes which led to a two-wicket victory. Michael Falcon did little in the Varsity Match but finished a satisfactory second in the Cambridge University batting list with an average of 30.22. He was asked to do little with the ball for the University but it is of significance that, when he was rested for the match against Yorkshire, he played in an inter-college game in which he took five wickets for 20 runs. Clearly the urge to bowl was still with him, even if it wasn’t being expressed at the highest level. Unfortunately for Norfolk’s supporters he was unable to continue his form into the Minor Counties season: in six matches he amassed a mere 147 runs, including 54 against Cambridgeshire. A ‘pair’ against Bedfordshire helped ensure it was the worst season he ever experienced with the bat for Norfolk. Varsity Days 19