Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

With eight matches to go, Leicestershire were in the unusual position, for them, of challenging for the Championship. It was now August Bank Holiday, and having been away at Whit, home matches followed against Northamptonshire over the weekend, followed by Yorkshire, on Wednesday to Friday. It is perhaps worth considering Charles Palmer at this point. Not only was he responsible for leading the team on the field and (with Maurice) the best and most consistent batsmen in the team, he also had his role as secretary, responsible for all the arrangements concerning the conduct of the matches. The Northamptonshire match constituted the most dramatic turnaround during the season. The match started in sunny weather, so Charlie with his secretary’s hat on must have been relieved. Over three thousand, the highest Saturday attendance at Grace Road since the Australian match, attended. He would not have been so happy to lose the toss on a good wicket. However the bowlers, especially Jeff Goodwin, did their job, and Leicestershire were batting by five o’clock, and Maurice would have put on his pads as Gerry Lester and Maurice Hallam went out to open the Leicestershire innings, full of anticipation with that touch of nervousness that accompanies the start of every innings. That of course was ignoring the Northamptonshire left-arm fast bowler, Bob Clarke from Finedon. By the end of play, Leicestershire were reeling at 75 for six, with five of the wickets going to Clarke. Maurice managed to hit Clarke for four, but Palmer went for a duck and this allowed him to return to his office where he resumed counting the gate receipts, £315 15s 6d, mostly in small change. And who was the obliging bowler who was opening the bowling with Clarke, you may ask? Well, one, Frank Holmes Tyson, who also managed to bowl Jack Walsh on the Bank Holiday Monday, to leave Clarke with seven for 33. The crowd on Bank Holiday Monday was well over 5,000, and Leicestershire needed 86 to avoid the follow-on. As this was achieved with Brian Boshier, career average 4.32, at the wicket, the tension must have been amazing. Leicestershire started their second innings, chasing 311, with eight hours left for play. They lost Gerry Lester, caught by George Tribe off Bob Clarke with the score on 11. Enter Maurice Tompkin. To start with, he was quite circumspect. He put on 88 with Maurice Hallam (53), and then he was joined by his captain. They saw the side through to the end of the day by which time they had reached 122, scored, it should be noted, at a run a minute. Tuesday dawned fine once again, and another good crowd of over 3,000 turned up for the action. Would Bob Clarke destroy them as he had done the day before, or this time would it be the new fast bowling hope, Frank Tyson? Or with the wicket now taking spin, would it be George Tribe? Leicestershire had for so long been near or at the bottom of the Championship that situations like this had been seen before, only for the Years of Plenty, 1950 to 1953 85