Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

consecutive fixtures, often on successive Saturdays, though in early and late season Saturday matches were followed by a mid-week afternoon encounter. After a good start to the season, Bury were struggling by early December. Maurice, now an inside forward, very rapidly made a strong impression. In his second match, an away defeat at Huddersfield Town, and Bury’s tenth losing match of the season, the headline was ‘Tomkins’ play at inside left a bright spot’. ‘Ranger’s’ slightly wordy match report in the Bury Times was effusive in its praise of his craft and speed: Undoubtedly the work of this recent recruit to the team was the highlight from the visitors’ point of view. His bright and effective work was a relieving feature in a forward display, which engendered nothing but gloom. At any rate he can move quickly when in possession, is not easily dispossessed and on Saturday displayed admirable ball control. He was extremely unlucky not to score, and a second-half run of fully fifty yards, in which he eluded several opponents, was deserving of a goal. In remarkable fashion Hesford, the Town goalkeeper, turned Tomkins’ shot over the crossbar. So outstanding was the work of Tomkins, so encouraging his general play, that one could be excused devoting almost all the space at one’s disposal to a review of his performance. Suffice it to say that it was easily the most promising we have seen by a Bury forward for a long time. Here at last was the necessary physical power allied to craft. Tomkins’ play was accepted as a silver lining in what had been nearly an unbroken and foreboding gloom. Happily the return match the following Saturday brought victory and, in the notoriously poorly attended last Saturday before Christmas, 7,612 turned up to see another stirring display by Maurice on his home debut. He scored his first goal against Barnsley, before a short but exciting FA Cup run. In this season, the cup was played over two legs, and the third-round tie involved the short journey to Rochdale. The first match was at home and Bury were not pleased by the 3-3 draw, but in the away match, Maurice got proceedings off to a good start with the first goal, and a 4-2 victory secured the tie. The fourth-round draw produced Sunderland, and the first leg produced a home win for Sunderland, 3-1. The second leg brought an excited crowd of 11,326 to Gigg Lane, and a ‘clever through pass’ by Maurice to Bury’s centre-forward Davies brought the first goal. In all nine were scored, and although Bury scored five of them it was not enough to reverse the first-leg defeat. It wasn’t even the largest home crowd of the season, for 14,000 saw the match against Manchester United. Though football was potentially more lucrative than cricket, he reported back at Leicester for net practice on 15 April and announced that, though he had a ‘couple more games to play for Bury’, cricket was his priority now. In fact he played in at least four more matches, including the last home game against Grimsby Town. 38 Football winters