LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

74 and many of our village greens with which the young Englishman is forced to contend. Both in the big cities of Australia (just outside the famous Sydney ground there are about 30 of these concrete wickets) and in the most remote parts up-country these concrete wickets are to be found, some in the roughest of fields, some amidst scrub inches high, and others on plains absolutely devoid of grass or any other vegetation. He urged that the various playing field authorities should give the matter their earnest and immediate consideration because ‘the average young Australian cricketer of today is streets ahead of the average young Englishman, and the main reason for this is, in my humble opinion, the concrete wicket.’ The Middlesex committee needed to find a suitable deputy when county fixtures clashed with Robbie’s international duties. John Human was prepared to make himself available only occasionally, but Middlesex were lucky to find that W.H. ‘Tagge’ Webster was also willing to step up when necessary. Webster had followed the same path as Robbie from Highgate School to Cambridge University and even into the Corinthians, where he had sometimes played alongside Robbie, and then into the Middlesex team under him, so he knew what was expected from him as captain. Middlesex started badly with just one win in May from four games while Yorkshire streaked ahead with three wins from five matches. The day after Middlesex had lost to Lancashire in early June, Yorkshire arrived in St John’s Wood ready to put an end to the Middlesex challenge for the title before it had barely got off the ground. Robbie and his team had other ideas. Dismissing the current champions for 218, Middlesex had built a small lead when Robbie came in at 283 for six and he increased that lead to 153 by ending unbeaten with 65 scored out of the last 88 runs of the innings. Thanks to some great spin bowling from Sims, five for 36, Yorkshire crumbled to an innings defeat. But despite this significant victory, Middlesex made only a marginal improvement in June with three wins and two losses. Yorkshire on the other hand were unfazed by their loss to their rivals and won five of their eight matches that month. In July Middlesex won six of their seven games and, most important of all, took five points from their draw at Sheffield when Yorkshire had been looking for revenge. Yorkshire could only manage four wins from their eight games and so, after the leadership had changed hands four times during the month, Middlesex finally leapfrogged over them to the top of the table, helped along at one stage by Robbie’s second hat-trick, against Somerset at Lord’s. The last championship games were due to begin on 28 August. After Yorkshire had won four of their last five games and Middlesex had won five out of their last six, both counties were down to their last two matches. Because counties played a different total of matches the title would be decided on percentages and with Middlesex now having 238 points with a percentage of 72.12, and Yorkshire 271 points with a percentage of 69.74, it meant that if Middlesex won both of their last matches it would not be Captain of England