Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

112 Last Summer Together had complained that the youngsters who replaced him hadn’t been very successful. That was certainly true at first. But they would eventually come good, and in the unforgiving world of professional sport Middlesex did have to plan for the future. All but 16 of Syd’s 329 first-class matches had been played for Middlesex. He had scored 15,050 runs for the county at an average of just half a run short of 30. Although he has slipped down the list a bit since, at the time only seven batsmen − Hendren, J.W.Hearne, Robertson, Edrich, Compton, Warner, Lee − had done better for the county, and if it hadn’t been for the Second World War, which took away potentially productive years, his record would have of course been even better. As well as his runs at the top of the order, his fielding, which had remained as good as ever, would be missed. The Middlesex side which played Surrey in August 1955, in Syd’s penultimate first-class match and his last at Lord’s. Standing (l to r): R.V.Bell (twelfth man), D.Bennett, S.M.Brown, A.E.Moss, J.T.Murray (wk), G.P.S.Delisle, F.J.Titmus, E.H.Hendren (scorer). Seated: J.G.Dewes, J.J.Warr, W.J.Edrich (capt), J.D.B.Robertson, J.A.Young.