LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

89 Captain Jack Robertson, amongst others who had served the country for six years, were changing downstairs, he and the amateurs were going to join them, saying ‘Surely if we can fight with them we can also change with them!’ Rait Kerr relented and agreed to explain to MCC what had been done in response to Robbie’s intervention, so that confirmation of the new arrangements could be announced officially. Middlesex made a great start to the season in that first game against Leicestershire: Pelham Warner reported that ‘under the dynamic captaincy of Walter Robins, Middlesex were able to declare twice and force a decisive victory with 20 minutes to spare.’ In the next game Northamptonshire were all out for 383 and, when Middlesex reached 384 for six, instead of building a bigger lead, Robbie immediately declared looking for a result. The visitors set Middlesex 250 runs to win and with Robbie leading the charge with an unbeaten 85, they reached 227 for nine when the umpires called time, with both sides believing they would have won if allowed to continue. By the end of May Middlesex were level in the table with Yorkshire and Lancashire but had played two games more. They lost to Yorkshire at Lord’s but then won the next five consecutive games. Robbie missed the innings victory over Gloucestershire being on selector duty at Lord’s for England’s first Test match for seven years where they beat India by ten wickets. Four days later he was at Trent Bridge scoring his first century of the season, adding 195 for the fourth wicket with Brown and taking five for 53 in Nottinghamshire’s second innings to win the match in two days. Even so, at the end of July they were trailing in third place by 20 points. Most of the county captains had been entering into the spirit of the MCC instructions to ‘animate their sides into enterprise and the pursuit of a win’ but halfway through the season ‘it was becoming clear that some captains were overstepping the legitimate limits of sporting cricket and conspiring to produce contrived finishes.’ In July MCC announced that they had been forced to remind the county clubs of a communication issued in April 1932, stating that ‘freak’ declarations were not in the interests of the game or of the Championship. This may have given some captains pause for thought but Robbie was not one of them and Middlesex won six of their eight matches in August while Yorkshire and Lancashire could only win three each. He almost reached his second century for the season at The Oval against Surrey when making 93 and adding 148 for the sixth wicket with Thompson after going in at 113 for five chasing 318 and winning by four wickets. The second century came against Essex at Lord’s in the last county match of 1946, but despite all this huge effort Middlesex finished runners-up to Yorkshire yet again. Robbie played in the traditional MCC match against Yorkshire at the Scarborough festival in September where, after the first day and much of the second day had been lost to rain, he found himself going in at 63 for six and at the end of play was 21 not out at 96 for seven. On the last day he astounded everyone by launching a counter-attack on the Yorkshire bowlers and scoring 95 out of the next 96 runs and getting stumped going A Fresh Start with Old Friends