Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

98 careers. Geoffrey Howard had to manage alone: there was none of the vast back-up entourage that accompanies tourists nowadays. It was an arduous tour. Preceded by a two-week journey out on the S.S.Chusan , 135 it lasted from the beginning of October, where on arrival in Bombay the party were showered with garlands and mobbed by large crowds, until the beginning of March. With the heat and humidity, bright light, change of diet, different types of pitch (turf, coir matting or jute matting), and the occasional detonation of celebratory fireworks by enthusiastic spectators, conditions were very different from those back home. (Ian particularly remembers his father complaining about the flies.) And there were other difficulties. Hotel accommodation was of variable quality: at Ahmedabad Jack and Roy Tattersall had their breakfast stolen by a monkey while they turned away for a moment. Journeys were long. The team sometimes travelled by train or coach, but more often by twin- engine Dakota, with the manager Geoffrey Howard sometimes taking the controls! Having said all this, the players continued to be enthusiastically greeted everywhere they went, and there was much to experience and many fascinating sights to see. Not surprisingly they were expected to attend a lot of functions, meeting local dignitaries and British expats. The players no doubt often found these tedious, but they clearly made a good impression, because after their Test win at Kanpur, the President of the Indian Board of Control sent Geoffrey Howard a letter commending the team on their behaviour. In the light of all these issues the side gave a reasonable account of itself and drew the Test series with India one-all, albeit perhaps a little luckily. On their own patch, and captained by Vijay Hazare, India were a strong and well-balanced side, with a talented batting line-up and a bowling attack led by Vinoo Mankad, a world-class allrounder who took 34 wickets with his left-arm spin. Matches against Pakistan had not yet been afforded Test status, but MCC came up against a number of players there who would make an impact in the future. Although many of the pitches were lifeless, leading to dull cricket, Tom Graveney recalled playing on a fast Lahore pitch that was unlike anything that they had encountered so far on the tour. Jack was having so much trouble early on coping with it that paceman Khan Mohammad actually posted a long stop in an attempt to catch mis-hit hooks that were sailing over the wicketkeeper’s head. As Jack passed fifty twice in the match he obviously eventually overcame his difficulties. Jack had a reasonable tour. Together with Tom Graveney and Frank Lowson he was one of three batsmen to make a thousand runs. In the Tests Allan Watkins was easily the highest scorer, whilst Jack, with 310 runs at an average of 38.75, batted consistently without ever going on to a big score. Outside the Tests he made three centuries, including 183 135 Starting at Tilbury it would have at least been an enjoyable and relaxing prelude. The luxurious Chusan had only been in service for just over a year. It had everything: ballroom, veranda café, swimming pool, library and – especially important – a number of bars. On Tour Again