Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

Chapter Six Years of Plenty, 1950 to 1953 Maurice returned from South Africa even more bronzed than usual and relaxed by the fortnight-long sea voyage, accompanied by many of the other cricketers who wintered by coaching in the schools of South Africa. Over Easter, he played football for Kettering, which helped with his pre-season fitness. The most significant change back home was the arrival of Charles Palmer as secretary and manager of Leicestershire: this satisfied several of the committee’s requirements. In particular they needed to strengthen the side and introduce more energy into the club’s management. Palmer had toured South Africa with the full MCC team only the previous year, and was clearly a class batsman whose cricket development had been affected by the war and the need to earn his living as a schoolmaster. They also, following Elliott’s dismissal, needed someone to implement policy. The committee were clearly desperate to maintain an ‘amateur’ captain, and the first choice for this combined role, Guy Willatt, had fallen through. It may have been that this failure was the catalyst to dismiss Elliott, suddenly and without more than anecdotal explanation. So, on 1 February 1950, Palmer was appointed with a seven-year contract, which shows an alarming amount of forward thinking and confidence by the Leicestershire committee. His salary, £1,000 a year, compared favourably with the five best-paid professionals (Maurice, Les Berry, Gerry Lester and the two Australians, Walsh and Jackson), who were paid £450. Palmer’s first season, 1950, was very much a year of transition. He saw the need to make changes to the team and thus it marked the last year of a side that had played regularly since the war. As a new player, he needed to establish the best way to get the most out of his side and also build team spirit, a process that would take time. Though the team in the euphoria of the post-war era had rallied around Les Berry, the Symington experience had been dire, and the players respected Palmer for his fairness and firmness as well as his fine attributes as a player. He had to manage the departure of several players who had been part of the team since the 1930s, and in the case of Les Berry, since the 1920s. Without a Second XI playing competitive cricket, or a nursery organisation, there was very little up-and-coming talent available, a situation made worse by national service and by the failure to sign any established players from other counties. Of the capped players, Tony Riddington, George Watson, Paddy Corrall and Frank Prentice were playing their last season as first-eleven contracted 67