LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

82 It seems that Gubby Allen was never able to come to terms with the friendship between Robbie and Don Bradman, which would grow stronger over the next 30 years, and made no attempt to hide his attempts to replace Robbie as Bradman’s confidante. Writing to Robbie from Australia during the 1953/54 Ashes series Gubby complained: ‘I have seen Sir Donald 3 or 4 times but despite my efforts to have a friendly talk I haven’t got to first base and I propose to retire from the unequal contest.’ Back in Australia seven years later, Gubby was still at a loss to understand why Bradman showed no interest in building a stronger relationship between them and wrote to Robbie: ‘I played golf with Don on the Sunday of the First Test but otherwise have hardly seen him. Don spoke for 41 minutes at the Board of Control dinner. I do not think he likes me much as, though an opposing captain on the very ground on which he was speaking, I got no mention.’ At the beginning of January 1939, Robbie resigned the Middlesex captaincy due to pressures of business. Ian Peebles was approached to see if he would play for the whole of 1939 and captain the side: ‘When invited by the Committee to succeed Walter, I was very conscious of the fact that I was taking over from probably the best reigning county captain in England.’ Under Peebles, Middlesex had another successful season, winning 14 and losing six matches, once again finishing runners-up to Yorkshire. In the last match of the season Peebles was unable to play at Lord’s against Somerset, so Robbie stepped up to take over as captain, only his fourth match that year; he led them to victory after hitting 84 in the Middlesex second innings. Any plans he may have had for a full return to first-class cricket in the 1940 season were about to be put on hold by the dramatic events unfolding on the world stage. Disappointment