Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

Maybe there were other disagreements around the time they were founded because for the next fifty years or so there was great rivalry between them. Maybe there was resentment that the United team – the sobriquet was not used after the First World War – had the privilege of having the ‘Railway’ public house as its base, whereas the Baptists had a nomadic existence playing on a variety of inferior fields around the village. Run-scoring could politely be described as ‘difficult’. In a match at Ratby – full of Shipmans and including an Astill – in 1914, scores were tied at 30 and, against Burbage, the Baptists were bowled out for 23. Even this modest score was beaten by the 22 against Enderby, and a score of 60 was enough to defeat the mighty Earl Shilton team. It should not be thought that this was rustic cricket of no account, for the Baptists’ best bowler, Walter Herbert, did enough to be picked for Leicestershire Second XI during the summer. Tragically, his brief glimpse of a cricketing career was snatched from him at Cambrai, just weeks before the Armistice in 1918. The league ran a tight ship and was very strict about how and when games should be played. It was in 1914, following the outbreak of war, that Stapleton’s non-appearance at an away match was accepted, because the horse that should have pulled the cart had been commandeered for war work, and they did not lose the points. Percy must have been a determined cricketer, who was not put off by fairly modest performances. As a 17-year-old in 1911, he mustered just six runs in seven visits to the crease. By 1914 however, he was scoring twenties and thirties and could be considered to be only second in run-scoring potential to Edmund Boat, who managed a half-century, a milestone he passed perhaps once or twice a season. Edmund’s finest hour probably came nearly thirty years later when the Baptists under his leadership won the second division of Leicester’s Mutual League. The rejoicing on such occasions as the team swayed back on a cart would have been heard a long way off. After the war, Percy played for the Countesthorpe team that continued to play in the South Leicestershire, by now opening the batting, with the Baptists’ team being in abeyance. He was, though, better known as a footballer, whom the Leicester Mercury described as a ‘spirited flyer on the wing’. After just one game for Huddersfield Town in the first post-war season, he played 90 matches for Leicester City, in the Football League’s second division, between 1920 and 1924, and was regarded as being a real ‘top notcher’ when at his best. He scored a goal within the first few minutes of his first game, against Bury, whom they beat 4-0. The Filbert Street crowd knew little of him, so his performance came as something of a pleasant surprise. His speed was apparently ‘quite exceptional’ and his ‘accuracy and ball control made him a real force in attack, and he always knew the next move.’ His career with Leicester never recovered from breaking his arm in 1924, and he was unable to win his place back, seeing out his days as a footballer Family history and background 9