Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

Nursery in 1938 included fellow young batsmen Peter Cherrington and Arthur Adcock. The Leicestershire playing staff of 1938 thus included a total of 16 professionals; three over the age of 45 and seven under the age of 25. His cricket season started quietly, playing in Second XI and Club and Ground matches. His first innings was at the County Ground for the Ivanhoe against Hinckley Town, and in the following week he scored 79 for the Second XI in a match against their Warwickshire counterparts at Edgbaston. In a match at the end of May, Maurice and Laurie Thursting put on 155 for the second wicket against Derbyshire Second XI at Aylestone Road: both batsmen were out in the 90s, with Maurice out for 98, dismissed by Cliff Gladwin. His innings brought praise from the local paper: ‘Tompkin batted very pleasingly and has all the style and strokes of a veteran. There are shrewd judges, including a couple of old Leicestershire stalwarts, who are of the firm opinion that he is ready for the sterner fray of county cricket.’ The following week, he played against the Gentlemen of Leicestershire for the Club and Ground and was out first ball, the second leg of a hat-trick by a visiting player from Cheshire. He managed to be stumped by the club’s honorary treasurer, T.B.C.Thorneloe, in a game already won; it probably did more for the wicketkeeper’s ego than anything else. In any event, the selection committee had met a couple of days previously. Their job was to select the team for the Club and Ground match, and also for the next three championship games. These comprised the traditional Bank Holiday match against Northamptonshire and the matches against Glamorgan at Ashby and Gloucestershire at Aylestone Road. Sir Julien Cahn was allowing Jack Walsh, one of his many cricket-playing employees, to play in the Northamptonshire fixture, but Gerry Lester would take his place in the Glamorgan game, and the idea was for Maurice to make his first-class debut in the following game, against Gloucestershire. This plan was thwarted because Frank Prentice was badly injured playing against Northamptonshire, so without much in the way of publicity, Maurice made his debut at Ashby, a match earlier than expected. Cricket at Ashby-de-la-Zouch was in complete contrast to cricket at the County’s headquarters. With its trees and open aspect, Ashby was the closest Leicestershire got to a pretty ground and was in stark contrast to the cooling towers and sooty deposits that polluted the atmosphere at Aylestone Road. The ground itself belonged to Mr G.E.Hutton who also owned the adjoining Royal Hotel. The club gave Mr Hutton 20 per cent of the gross takings, which most years amounted to £25 to £30, and he provided the ‘ground, pitch etc, also seating accommodation, latrines, scorer’s and press tent, screening etc.’ The small pavilion backed onto the railway line and was also behind the wicket. This meant that play would stop when a train passed by. On either side of the pavilion were deck chairs which had been transported from Leicestershire debut, 1938 and 1939 21