Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

very much those who formed the backbone of the league throughout its history: Cosby, Earl Shilton, Ratby, Enderby, Burbage, Narborough and Broughton Astley. The league’s leading performer was C.E.Starmer of Cosby, who had played briefly for the county in the 1920s. Because of his school commitments, Maurice was only available during the school holidays. His form for Countesthorpe was poor. Playing for the first team he scored just one against Hinckley Methodist Templars, on Richmond Park in Hinckley, before falling lbw, and the following week, in the last match of the season, he scored four against Burbage out of a Countesthorpe total of 108. Whether relegation made any difference to the next step is unclear, but Percy Tompkin was keen to ensure that his son played high-quality cricket whenever possible. The leading club in the county were the Leicester Ivanhoe, and most of the amateurs who played for the county also played for them. One of their home grounds was the county ground at Aylestone Road, which must have helped with their recruitment. They shared this ground on non-county Saturdays with Leicester Town, with two games taking place on the outfield. However, another opportunity was presenting itself in the next village. Though cricketing ability was also an advantage the Ivanhoe were very much the club for cricketers of social standing whose members also played for the Gentlemen of Leicestershire, and attending a public school ‘helped’. At this time, the Leicester Nomads were developing their fixture list. Originally called Clarendon Park Congs – Congregationalists, one of the many clubs in Leicestershire that originally had church connections – they played their matches on Victoria Park. Tommy Sidwell, the former county wicketkeeper, had joined, and by the time they had moved to their new ground at the Dog and Gun public house in Whetstone, he was captain. This ground, no more than a mile from Maurice’s home, was acquired in 1935. It was this up and coming club that he joined and played much of his early club cricket. The team also included J.C.Bradshaw, a county player, and H.D.Greenlees, a former captain of Leicester Football Club, the famous rugby club known as the ‘Tigers’. Sadly, reports on his cricket over the next three summers before playing for the county are incomplete. That particular Countesthorpe club and Leicester Nomads have not survived, nor was there a weekly paper that regularly carried the full scores of matches played. Sadly too, detective work is required to confirm beyond reasonable doubt the matches in which he participated. He was invariably referred to as ‘Tompkins’ and on one occasion a picture of him in a Leicester Ivanhoe team photo names him as ‘Thompson’. In 1935, he scored 31 for the Nomads against the Nottingham club, Lenton. It was however in 1936 that he achieved his first genuine breakthrough, and his name started to become well known in local cricketing circles. On 2 May, playing for Nomads against a strong Nottinghamshire team including Learning the game 16