LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

42 Test Match Debut Last man Duckworth was out almost immediately and Australia had more than two hours in which to get the 72 runs needed for victory. A disconsolate Robbie returned to the pavilion, upset that he may have, unwittingly, made Australia’s task easier. Leveson Gower met him on the landing outside the dressing-room and said that he had witnessed some stupid things over fifty years in cricket, but the run-out of White must have been the stupidest. The last thing Robbie expected was an altercation with the chairman of the selectors and his angry response, reminiscent of his father’s reply to criticism nearly 30 years before, was to tell Leveson Gower that he resented being criticised by someone obviously ‘over- refreshed’ straight from the committee-room. Leveson Gower was not noted for his post-lunch temperance and the result, as Ian Peebles later noted, ‘had been a heated scene, and in the opinion of those present, the end of Walter’s prospects for the current series.’ Seething with anger as he took the field, Robbie must have hoped that Chapman would give him at least a few overs to redeem himself. All credit to his captain, although he really had nothing to lose, because after only seven overs he brought him into the attack and with his fourth ball clean bowled Ponsford. In came Bradman and another four balls later out went Bradman, caught by a delighted Chapman off Tate. According to Warner ‘Robins was spinning the ball tremendously’ and minutes later he had another wicket when Duckworth caught Kippax. Australia were now 22 for three but, as Wisden later reported, ‘visions of a remarkable collapse arose but Woodfull, exercising sound generalship by taking most of Robins’ bowling himself, tided over an anxious period.’ Warner thought that Woodfull had no easy passage: ‘Robins got past even Woodfull’s cast- iron defence three balls in succession’. McCabe helped his captain weather the storm and despite Robins ‘sending down seven almost perfect overs’ it was all over by 5 pm. Despite the final heroics, Robbie suspected that his services would no longer be required by the England selectors. He turned down the opportunity to join Middlesex at Leicester and returned to Nottingham. Probably to counter any suspicions that he was being victimised for the unsavoury events at Lord’s, the selectors included Robbie’s name among the twelve players invited to Leeds for the Third Test, but in the final selection Dick Tydesley, Lancashire’s rotund leggie and nowhere near an allrounder, was preferred. It was a decision that did not find favour with Warner: ‘a good many people were reluctant to believe that Tyldesley was a better man in an England team than Robins.’ By the first evening of the first day Bradman was 309 not out, having made 100 runs in all three sessions. Robbie was not too disappointed with the twelfth-man role dispensing drinks to perspiring chasers. Afterwards, Robbie accepted the invitation to go down to Lord’s for the traditional Gentlemen versus Players fixture where he was reunited with his old friend Ian Peebles. Captain of the Gentlemen was Percy Chapman, fresh from the Test defeat at Leeds, who continued to prefer other bowlers and Robbie was only used for 18 overs in the match, while Peebles was