Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

Middlesex needed quick runs in the third innings to set up a declaration, but instead they were bowled out for 215 by Jackson and Palmer. Leicestershire thus needed 211 to win at slighter better than a run a minute on the final afternoon. This was therefore rather slower than the rate at which the rest of the match had been conducted. Maurice could therefore take his time to ensure that Leicestershire gained victory with few alarms. He scored his second hundred of the match in 2 hours 22 minutes, and then hit Knightley-Smith for four to bring off a stunning victory with over half an hour left for play. Fred Foulds, the Leicestershire twelfth man, remembers that Denis Compton could easily have prevented the boundary and stopped Maurice achieving his second century, but allowing an opponent his moment of triumph was more important, such was the spirit of county cricket at this time. For Maurice, this was the batting highlight of his career. He became only the fifth Leicestershire batsman to score two centuries in a match, and only in the Festival match at Kingston three years before had he scored a faster century. Leicestershire then had a run of poor results, losing four out of five matches. Maurice was in good form, but playing very much for his team. He hit a rapid 50 against Essex at Brentwood, setting up a run-chase, ending in a two-wicket defeat. Against Nottinghamshire at Hinckley and against Glamorgan at Neath, much more circumspect innings were required, and on each occasion he took almost two and a half hours to reach his half- century. With a third of the season gone, Leicestershire had still won only one match, and on 24 June they were in familiar territory, at fifteenth in the Championship. Now, their luck changed. In the space of the next four weeks, they won five out of seven games, substantially helped by five half-centuries from Maurice, and a consequent rise to eighth in the table. These games demonstrated the growing strength of the team. No longer were they dependent on one or two individuals. Though Jack Walsh still took most wickets, Jeff Goodwin was largely responsible for the win at Southampton, and Terry Spencer for the win against Hampshire at Leicester. Six Leicestershire batsmen scored more than 1,000 runs this Years of Plenty, 1950 to 1953 78 Maurice leaving the field, to applause, after scoring his second century of the game, against Middlesex at Grace Road in May 1952.