Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

For Maurice it was off on the boat to South Africa for the first of two winters coaching at Grey High School, Port Elizabeth. In making the winter trip to South Africa, he was following in the footsteps of Jack Walsh and Vic Jackson who had spent winters there. There was considerable demand for the services even of lesser-known English professionals. With two small sons at home it perhaps seems strange that he should choose to spend the winter away from home, albeit at the best school in the Eastern Cape. Based on the remuneration received by other coaches, it is however likely that he would have been paid almost as much for a winter’s coaching as he would for a season of first-class cricket. With football ended and the family business not an alternative, he would at least be spending the winter in a congenial environment. War and Peace, 1940 to 1949 66