Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

103 Chapter Eighteen Rebuilding Middlesex climbed to fifth in the Championship in 1952, arguably a disappointing outcome given that halfway through the season they were second to the eventual champions, Surrey. Joint captaincy wasn’t really working. Wisden thought that matches were lost which, with more tenacity, might have been saved, whilst The Cricketer identified a lack of cohesion in the side. The bowlers did well: Young again took well over a hundred wickets, the fast-developing Moss nearly got there and Compton took 74 wickets in the Championship with his unorthodox left-arm spin. The batting, however, faltered with the averages of the top four batsmen all falling significantly. Jack’s championship average fell to 35, a decline Wisden partly attributed to fatigue after the winter’s tour. Having said that, he was the first batsman to reach a thousand runs in the season, and went on to make two thousand again, a feat he had achieved, uniquely, in every season since 1946. Jack’s Test career was finished but he did get the chance to face the Indians again at the end of August when they came to Lord’s to play Middlesex. After performing creditably during the previous winter against a second- string England side, the tourists were outclassed by the full-strength side and lost the Test series 3-0. They fared little better against the counties, although one of their rare victories was against eventual champions, Surrey. Jack enjoyed his re-acquaintance with the Indian attack, now minus the great Mankad; his first-innings 85 was easily top score and he added a further 81 runs second time around. This was the tenth time he passed 80 during the season, although he went on to reach a century only twice. Syd was also not at his best. He made his thousand runs for the county again, but his championship average fell to below 24 and, apart from an early-season century opening stand at Leicester, his partnerships with Jack were not particularly productive. 143 For a while he dropped down the order and Alec Thompson moved up to take his place. The new pairing didn’t fare much better and eventually the old guard were reunited, soon justifying their reinstatement by putting on 107 against Essex at Lord’s, the only century partnership of a low-scoring match easily won by the visitors. The Times commented that their century stand was a ‘rare and welcome event’ and praised their attractive strokeplay, especially Syd’s. Ironically, Syd’s only century of the season came at Trent Bridge when Jack, together with Compton, was away appearing for the Players against the Gentlemen. As Edrich was also absent injured, Middlesex certainly needed 143 A 17-year-old wicketkeeper, John Murray, made his first-class debut in the match at Leicester.