LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

47 and told him that ‘we have written to Sir Julien in response to his generous offer’. The Robins family were delighted at the news of the expected arrival of a new member and cricket at East Molesey in the summer of 1932 was ‘very much of a family affair these days’ as described in the Winter Annual of The Cricketer when it published the club’s season averages for 1932 which included Robbie, his father, his uncle, his brother and his brother-in-law: Batting I N.O Runs H.S. Ave R.W.V.Robins 11 0 489 92 44.45 W.V.H.Robins 8 0 173 34 21.62 V.H.Robins 19 1 284 62 15.77 H.F.Piper 20 0 256 100 12.80 Lt Col V.I.Robins 35 10 156 22 6.24 Bowling O M Runs Wkt Ave R.W.V.Robins 137 22 366 53 6.90 V.H.Robins 225 45 556 65 8.55 H.F.Piper 239 76 550 58 9.48 With the summer now over, Robbie looked forward to playing football in the fiftieth-anniversary season of the Corinthians. He was asked to play on either the right or left wing and sometimes even moved to inside-right as the club tried to find a winning combination in time for the FA Cup tie against West Ham United on 14 January. But he had to rule himself out of contention for a place in the fixture when the Corinthians decided, for the first time in their history, that they wanted the team to train together at Crystal Palace every evening from Monday 9 January to Friday 13 January when Robbie would be working in Nottingham. * * * * * * * Robbie and Kathleen had moved from Nottingham to a small house at Burnham in Buckinghamshire in time for the birth of their daughter in March 1933. As Kathleen explains in her memoir: ‘Walter was beginning to miss his Middlesex cricket. The country-house flavour of Julien Cahn’s cricket was not enough.’ There was very little competition and in the three seasons since Robbie had accepted Sir Julien’s offer of employment, the cricket team had played 115 matches, winning 62 and losing only four. Understanding her husband better than anyone and his motto — ‘Make a good game of it’ — Kathleen sympathised with Robbie’s dilemma: ‘I can understand his irritation conflicting with his feelings of gratitude for Sir Julien’s hospitality and generosity.’ Robbie’s dissatisfaction with the quality of cricket was increased by his frustration at being unable to test his skills to the full by taking part in a whole Test series or another complete championship season. Just when Robbie’s thought may have been turning to seriously seeking alternative employment in London, which would give him freedom to play more first- Part-Time Cricket