Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

centuries of the tour, played a higher innings than Maurice’s 85 in the first ‘Test’. Crawford White, one of the journalists who covered the tour, summed it up thus: ‘Generally, this was not a constructive tour. Too often conditions were poor, practice conditions impossible and umpiring standards, confidence shaking. The MCC must study every aspect of the reports they receive on the tour and think hard on the advisability of ever again allowing an A team to play tests, whatever their label.’ Maybe though, his comments were to an extent out of pique because his articles in the News Chronicle during the difficult, water-throwing section of the tour had not been well received by Geoffrey Howard. In the tour debrief, Walter Robins turned to Maurice and said, ‘You’re an experienced cricketer, Maurice, what would you like to say about the tour?’ to which Maurice is reported to have replied, ‘I enjoyed every minute of it, except the cricket.’ During the tour, his teammates would sympathise with him, to which Maurice would reply philosophically, ‘Ah well, never mind. There are plenty of English summers to come.’ In Pakistan, 1955/56 114