Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

25 Making the Grade score reaching 64 before Syd was stumped for 42. Our man at The Times was not overly impressed by Jack, noting that he had a less fluent style than Syd, rather a restrained lift of the bat, did not place the ball well, and that his 37 included only one boundary. Opinions would soon change. In a low-scoring game won by Oxford by two wickets, Jack scored only seven in the second innings, but he did have the consolation of taking his maiden first-class wicket, bowling the Oxford captain Eric Dixon for 60. 32 Dixon would only make two first-class centuries, but the first a month before had come against an almost full strength Yorkshire attack led by the great Hedley Verity. Sadly, three years later, aged 25, he would lose his life off the Libyan coast. Although Jack had batted only moderately against Oxford, he had done enough to keep his place in the side and make his championship debut at Lord’s in the Whitsun Bank Holiday match against Sussex. This was a traditional date in the calendar, with the return played at Hove over the August Bank Holiday, then at the beginning of the month. With its large crowds the fixture was an obvious choice for beneficiaries and Fred Price must have been well pleased to see a crowd of 16,000 watching Saturday’s play. As the home side scored 572 for eight in the day they certainly 32 Jack had many fine bowling performances to his name in school and club cricket but would not bowl much at first-class level, taking just 73 wickets. However, he would achieve one or two useful analyses and might have been used a bit more. John Arlott said slightly cryptically that ‘…the action with which he bowled his slow off breaks displeased some’. (Arlott, John, Vintage Summer: 1947 , Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1967). Whether this was a technical or aesthetic criticism or something more sinister is not clear. I have come across no other such comment. Essex v Middlesex, Chelmsford, June 1938. A shot from Syd evades the stretching Stan Nichols.