LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

26 Now it was time for Robbie to prove once and for all that he had grown into a genuine allrounder, and the Varsity Match at Lord’s was the perfect setting. There was nothing to choose between the teams after each had completed their first innings. Cambridge had started with 291, thanks to another good innings from Killick with 74, a half-century from Duleepsinhji, and 53 from Robbie, and Oxford replied with 287 while Robbie had taken four for 91. On the morning of the third and final day, Robbie went in at 160 for five with Killick and Duleepsinhji both out. Lose another wicket now and Cambridge would be hard pressed to set Oxford a target over 200. This was the kind of challenge that always brought out the best of Robbie. He joined Seabrook and together they added a quick 101 runs with a view to a declaration and time to bowl Oxford out. With his captain gone, Robbie accelerated the run rate and scored 40 of the next 69 runs to reach his century in 105 minutes. Cambridge declared, asking Oxford to score 335 in 215 minutes and with the last pair at the wicket still more than 100 behind, the game looked over. But Benson and Hill- Wood defied the Cambridge bowlers for almost half an hour and with only seven minutes left even survived a sharp chance high up at short leg off Robbie, who had taken another four wickets to finish with match figures of eight for 151 from 52.4 overs, and the match ended in a draw, reported flatly by Wisden as ‘a most exciting finish’. For Robbie it was the end of his three years at Cambridge University. In 35 matches he had scored 1,730 runs at an average of 32.64 although, as proof of his ability to rise to the big occasion, his average against Oxford in his three Varsity matches at Lord’s rose to 77.00, and he had also taken 49 wickets for 28.08 apiece. Cambridge and Aubrey Faulkner