Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

109 Rebuilding failed to make a thousand runs. He passed fifty in the Championship just three times. These innings included 92 against Somerset when he posted a century partnership with Jack, and 148 at Edgbaston when he added 324 with Bill Edrich (195) for the second wicket after Jack had been dismissed before a run had been scored. This is still the only triple- century partnership between the counties, and Syd’s century was the last of the 22 he scored in first-class cricket. Middlesex then had a week before their next match, which was quite convenient for Syd because it allowed him, together with Pam, to go along to his old school’s sports day where he presented the trophies, and expressed his pleasure at finding the school’s standards and reputation as high as ever. These standards have been maintained to the present day both on and off the field: its recent exam results have placed it among the top performing non-selective schools in the country, and recently retired England cricketer Beth Morgan is a former pupil. Both Jack and Syd would be 37 by the end of the year and their declining outputs and the county’s policy of giving youth a chance would prompt the inevitable question of how long they would continue to play.