Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

113 Chapter Twenty New Partners Another wet summer, and Middlesex had to a find Jack a new partner. For the first half of 1956 they tried wicketkeeper John Murray, a local lad born in North Kensington. Like his senior partner he was an elegant, neatly turned-out cricketer. Unfortunately the union was not a great success and halfway through the season Murray dropped down the order. He would eventually make nearly 19,000 first-class runs, including a Test century, to go with his 1,500 victims behind the stumps. Some felt that his batting did not develop as much as they had expected, and Murray himself has admitted that he never paid as much attention to it as he should. However, he was only 21 and 1956 was his first full season. It was probably asking too much of him to do two important jobs, particularly if he had to open the batting after concentrating for a long time behind the stumps. Twenty-year-old Don Bick, another local, born at Hampstead, was also given an extended run at the top of the order. Bick was a good enough off-spinner to take 229 first-class wickets for Middlesex, but he made the mistake of being a contemporary of Fred Titmus and never really had the chance to establish himself in the side. Despite early promise, batting was not really his strong suit: in 189 innings he passed 50 for the county only eight times, probably because of a tendency to attack too soon. Early on he and Jack put on 143 and 39 against Essex at Westcliff-on-Sea – Bick making 45 and 64 – but unfortunately this was the zenith of their pairing and it never rose to such heights again. Dewes came into the side again in August but this time he failed, making just 12 runs in five innings, and eventually asked to be left out. The Middlesex side was going through major change. Two other experienced batsmen, Sharp and Thompson, had also been released, and Compton (knee, what else?) and Moss (a pulled muscle during the First Test against Australia) could play only eight championship matches each. This enabled chances to be given to a number of young players, and in the circumstances fifth place in the Championship was seen as a reason for considerable satisfaction. Jack himself, like another veteran, Edrich, had a good season making nearly 1,400 championship runs at an average of just under 30. He hit particularly fine form in mid July with a hundred against Gloucestershire, who would finish third in the Championship, followed by top-scores in both innings of a nine-wicket defeat at Maidstone. Kent’s Wright, troubled by a foot injury, was having a poor season, but hit typically devastating form in a Middlesex first innings of just 64 to take eight for 30, with Robertson (26) the only batsman to reach double figures. Jack then led a second-innings fightback, making 109 out of 262. Although