LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

55 Bridgford where they launched another fruitful partnership, and in the first four Middlesex matches shared all ten wickets of Northamptonshire’s second innings and all ten wickets of Sussex’s first innings at Lord’s. In all four matches they had captured 47 wickets between them but when the Australians came to Lord’s their magic failed. The tourists hit 345 with Bradman making 160 of them, although it was Peebles who finally had him caught before they went on to beat Middlesex by ten wickets in two days. Robbie’s contribution was with the bat, scoring 65 and adding 142 with Hendren for the fourth wicket in the Middlesex first innings. Robbie had already hit three half-centuries as well as taking 24 wickets so it came as no surprise that he was included in the Test Trial six days later. His disappointing performance, no wickets and 90 runs from 25 overs and a total of 24 runs from his two innings meant that he was not asked to join the England team for the First Test at Nottingham where the allrounder role went to 40-year-old George Geary. Middlesex were without Peebles for the next three games and Robbie struggled to recover any of his earlier form, taking only eleven wickets and averaging 15 with the bat. He did score an impressive 64 for the Gentlemen of England against the Australians at Lord’s but again his bowling failed to impress and he was not called for the Second Test at Lord’s. At the end of June, business commitments brought the withdrawal of the Middlesex captain, Tom Enthoven, for the rest of the season and, with Nigel Haig still unavailable, the Middlesex committee asked Robbie to step in for the next match at Trent Bridge. As luck would have it, Peebles could return to the side and this seemed a perfect opportunity for Robbie to demonstrate his suitability to fill the role as the next Middlesex captain. Sharing eight wickets Larwood and Voce went quickly through the Middlesex first innings of 218, but when Nottinghamshire batted Robbie soon dispensed with his own opening quick bowlers and called up Peebles to bowl from one end while he bowled from the other. The strategy worked and by close of play on the first day Nottinghamshire were 105 for six. The next morning Robbie continued with this attack and Nottinghamshire were soon all out for 158. Out of the 60 overs bowled in that innings, Robbie and Peebles had bowled 53 and taken four wickets each with the other two being run-outs. Batting again, Middlesex were soon skittled out for 113 with Voce taking seven for 62, suggesting that the wicket had now swung back to favouring pace rather than spin. But Nottinghamshire now needed 173 to win and Robbie scented victory. He gave Gray and Hulme one over each and then returned to the same combination of Peebles and himself which he thought would soon win the match. But it all went wrong and as Robbie persevered with his leg-spin attack for 39 overs out of 61, Harris and Hardstaff added 74 for the second wicket and then Carr joined Hardstaff for a partnership of 86 to win the match by eight wickets. Details of the defeat soon reached Lord’s and Nigel Haig was persuaded to return as captain immediately while Robbie took the opportunity to have a break for the rest of July to concentrate on business matters that needed attention while enjoying a few games at East Molesey. He was back Captain of Middlesex