Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

117 Chapter Twenty-One Final Summer Ironically, after batting so well in 1958, a drenched summer not made for batsmen, time finally caught up with Jack in 1959, a summer of glorious sunshine and firm pitches in which 23 batsmen made over 2,000 runs. Sadly, in his second benefit season, he could not get going. He failed to make a fifty and in 26 innings made just 364 runs, eventually dropping out of the side. He didn’t have the best of luck: he was run out a couple of times, and in the Bank Holiday match at Lord’s against Sussex received a generous ovation from the large crowd as he came in to bat, and a generous collection, but was then leg-before without scoring in the second innings to a near shooter. In his penultimate match he captained Middlesex against the touring Indians, a match in which 17-year-old Mike Smith from Enfield Grammar School made his first-class debut. Smith took six wickets with his left-arm spin, but his value to Middlesex in the future was going to be as a successful opener. Jack came back into the side one last time in the middle of August, playing against eventual champions Yorkshire in a match that had been set aside for his benefit. 163 Over 21,000 watched, and with scores of 31 and 25, the latter run out, in a low-scoring match against an attack including Fred Trueman and Ray Illingworth, he left the first-class game with a performance reminiscent of his best days. Jack finished his career with nearly 32,000 runs at an average of 37.50, and 67 centuries. Only three batsmen have exceeded his 27,088 runs for Middlesex. Patsy Hendren, with over 40,000 runs easily heads the list, a total presumably never to be beaten, but Jack’s total is close behind Mike Gatting’s 28,411 and J.W.Hearne’s 27,612. A further indication of what he had meant to Middlesex was the fact that when he retired, of all batsmen who had scored 10,000 runs for the county, only Compton, Hendren, Edrich and Hearne could better his average of 38.36. And a final statistic: he played in 423 matches for Middlesex, a figure only exceeded by the Hearnes, J.T. and J.W. (just), and Hendren. Should he have played more Tests? Many good judges thought so. Perhaps he was born at the wrong time. He was 28 when the Second World War ended and the selectors had decided that Washbrook, who was a couple of years older, would be Hutton’s partner. The Lancastrian was a fine player of fast bowling, and his Test record leaves little doubt that they had made a good choice. But, as some have suggested, surely Jack could have batted down the order? By the time Washbrook dropped out of the side Jack was 34 and the selectors were casting around for a younger replacement. They had little success and Hutton never again had a regular partner. And yet, 163 This second benefit yielded £3,600, around £70,000 in 2012 prices.