Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

Godiva celebration in Coventry, to watch. The ground had been made even more attractive by the flower beds that had been laid near the pavilion, courtesy of Hinckley Urban District Council. They did not have long to wait to watch their local hero. Maurice began by cutting Bill Edrich to the boundary, who then failed to get his revenge when he dropped a caught-and-bowled chance. The score raced to 50, and he hit Jack Young for a four and a six, before being caught at slip by Edrich off Alan Moss for 89. Throughout the innings he received regular updates of his son’s health, and at the end of play he rushed back to Leicester. Happily, Nick gained strength as the weekend progressed, and by Monday he was much better. Monday saw another good crowd, and the papers pointed out that the gate for two days at Hinckley had been rather better than for the three matches played at Grace Road. The locals did their best to ensure that Middlesex were well entertained. The delayed start on the Monday allowed the team to visit a hosiery factory and they were guests of honour at a dinner held at the George Hotel. All this for a county team, though the fact that they were the first from London to visit the town was considered a good enough reason to push out the boat – and hope that they had done enough to welcome visits from counties regularly in the future. At the end of the month, Maurice’s form started to pick up. Against Essex at Romford he scored a fifty in each innings and, joy of joys, a first-innings lead for Leicestershire. Maurice seldom had a bad word to speak of anyone, but he did consider Trevor Bailey to have a rather high opinion of himself, so these runs would be doubly pleasurable. Leicestershire were perhaps unlucky not to win this match because at the close Essex were nine wickets down and still 81 runs short of victory. Things improved even further during the next match against Worcestershire, at Grace Road. On the first day, the Leicestershire committee gave permission for him to tour India with MCC, ‘if selected’. In the end he was not chosen and MCC were captained by Nigel Howard who took a batsman’s place, but the news that his availability was asked for must have come as a great boost to his confidence. If Donald Carr had been chosen as captain rather than as deputy, then there would have been space for another batsman. The game was won by just one wicket, Leicestershire’s first for almost two months, and the final assault on victory was led by a magnificent century by Charles Palmer. With three required, Leicestershire’s last man, Jim Sperry came to the crease to join Paddy Corrall. Paddy was playing his last first-class match, having handed over the gloves to Jack Firth at the start of the season. Whilst Jim could, and did, hit slower bowling long and hard, the money at the popular side of the ground was on Reg Perks, who had already taken eight wickets in the match, to dismiss him. Happily for Leicestershire, Jim thumped the ball for three and the match was won. Years of Plenty, 1950 to 1953 74