LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

94 if England were going to recover the Ashes. If anyone was capable of putting pressure on Bradman then it had to be Robbie, so the argument went, and his brilliant management the previous season of the Middlesex team including Compton and Edrich was all the proof that was needed. Robbie himself would not be drawn into the debate but kept his options open by playing in four of the first six county matches at Lord’s under the leadership of Mann. In the meantime, the Australian had been travelling around the counties demonstrating the quality of their batting, bowling and fielding, and making it very clear what a huge task England would face when the Test matches started. They had won seven of their first ten matches by an innings and Bradman himself had already scored 759 runs at an average of 94.37, including three centuries. But first it was time for a Test Trial at Edgbaston where Yardley would lead an England XI and Ken Cranston, the Lancashire skipper, would be captain of The Rest. Robbie decided to take his selection duties seriously and took a place in the Rest eleven under Cranston, in order to check at close quarters the form of those in the running for places in the England team. Rain reduced the game to less than an innings each and little was learned, so the selectors decided that Yardley should stay in place and Robbie went off to play for Middlesex at Lord’s against Yorkshire. After that, for the next seven weeks he concentrated exclusively on the first four Ashes Tests. Australia won the First Test at Nottingham by eight wickets and the Second, at Lord’s, by 409 runs, as the selectors looked on and wondered what they could do to stem the tide. Meanwhile, Bradman rushed his team to complete a victory over Surrey during the morning of the last day of the match, so that they could take up an invitation to watch the Men’s Singles final at Wimbledon in the afternoon. He then sent them off to Bristol to play Gloucestershire while he relaxed with the Robins family for a few days, dining and chatting, and playing some golf with Robbie. It was no secret that England were going to make changes for the Third Test at Old Trafford. The selectors were particularly concerned about how Bradman had concentrated the bounce and pace of Lindwall, Miller and Johnston against Hutton and that at Lord’s Hutton had, in Wisden ’s later words, ‘looked plainly uncomfortable’. There were murmurs of discontent from within the ranks of MCC members seeing what appeared to be an alarming loss of confidence, and it was a situation that the selectors could not ignore. The decision was made and Hutton’s omission from the Third Test eleven sent shock-waves around the country, despite being only one of four changes deemed necessary. The new line-up worked and at the end of the third day England were 316 runs in front with seven wickets in hand. The whole of the fourth day was washed out and on the morning of the final day Yardley declared immediately to give his bowlers an opportunity to dismiss the Australians who would be without the injured Barnes. After half an hour Australia lost Johnson, the stand-in opener, but showers curtailed play and Morris and Bradman stuck it out. The opportunity for England to win back the Ashes was gone but at least it A Fresh Start with Old Friends