Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

126 the early sixties they had an annual cricket weekend in Hampshire playing East Woodhay and Hurstbourne Priors, aka ‘The Tour’. Syd was persuaded to go along. He actually went several times and so probably hadn’t needed much persuading. He didn’t play, but the opposition would have enjoyed socialising after the game with a well-known sporting name. Pam was accustomed to helping run the White Horse and it was no doubt in good hands whilst Syd was away. On leaving Middlesex Syd was not quite lost to the game: before moving to Harefield he played some club cricket with Kenton. After that he appears to have played little. This was mainly because he felt that it was not really right for an ex-professional cricketer to play amateur club cricket and thus deprive someone who played purely for enjoyment of a game. In any case, running a public house is an arduous and stressful occupation leaving relatively little time for other pursuits, particularly time-consuming activities such as cricket. He did, however, appear at least one more time with his old partner. A number of local matches had been arranged in aid of Jack’s benefit in 1959, and the first was against Harefield Cricket Club, with Syd turning out for the home side. Middlesex sent a strong team, supplemented by entertainer Roy Castle and bandleader, agent and passionate cricket-lover Vic Lewis. In brilliant sunshine Middlesex won by 70 runs and the former partners did their bit to entertain a crowd of 800 who helped raise about £160, Jack making 36 and Syd 21. Rob was born at the White Horse in 1962. He inherited his father’s interest in sport, in particular football; he still runs regularly. He remembers him as a good father and, as Pam pointed out, young Rob never came home from school to an empty home. Rob never saw his father play but he does have an abiding memory of an incident that brought home to him how good he must have been. When he was a youngster, like many youngsters, he would drag his father out into the garden for a game of cricket. Rob decided he would sling the ball down as fast as possible and he remembers even now how impressed he was by how much time his father, then in his late fifties, had to play the ball back to him. Rob recalls many good times, but also some bad ones when Syd was in a gloomier mood. It may be that as time progressed he became less enamoured with life as a publican. Many cricketers on retirement have found it difficult to make the transition from the After Cricket Syd pulls a pint at the White Horse, Harefield, where he became landlord after retiring from the first-class game.