Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

39 Intermission match, for the Rest of England in early June, when an RAF side that began Charlie Barnett, Cyril Washbrook and Bill Edrich, Test players all, was skittled for just 51 in 80 minutes. Fortunately sporting declarations then enabled both sides to bat twice and the 5,000 crowd see a full day’s cricket. Later in the month Jack appeared for the Army against an equally strong RAF side, a crowd of over 15,000 showing that there was a considerable public appetite for good, positive cricket; a couple of weeks later he got close to a century, opening with Barnett and scoring 86 for a Lord’s XI against the Anti-Aircraft Brigade. Wisely, in view of events earlier in the summer, Jack’s captain Major G.O.B.Allen let the opposition bat first and their modest score of 201 was then easily passed for the loss of just one wicket. The Brigade had a decent attack including Harold Butler and Frank Smailes, both later capped by England, and Doug Wright, a bowler who would have taken many more than his eventual 108 Test wickets if he had had the chance to play during the early 1940s. However, Barnett, who scored 102 on his birthday, and Jack, ‘neat in his cutting’, found little to trouble them and put on 176 at two runs a minute. Jack and Syd finally came together on the field, although not as openers, when Middlesex and Essex united to play Surrey and Kent in a two-day August Bank Holiday fixture. As they scored 412 for six declared by tea Errol Holmes must have wished he hadn’t given the opposition first innings. Jack, driving and pulling strongly before being caught at mid off from the bowling of Alf Gover, made 85. Edrich made 102 and to the great delight of the crowd when he was finally dismissed, stumped, his wicket fell to the great Frank Woolley, now aged 54. The Times commented that Jack was filling out physically with a consequent increase in the power of his shots. After heavy rain, and in patently unsuitable conditions, the players tried to provide some sort of entertainment next day, but with bowlers unable to get a proper foothold, only 19 overs were possible in which time Surrey and Kent made 65 for three. Sadly for those watching, Frank Woolley fell without scoring, caught by Syd off a skyer at mid off. Syd had only made 15 before becoming another Gover victim, but away from Lord’s he had some success and at the end of August scored 123 for Aldershot District against a Warner XI for whom his county colleague Jim Sims took four expensive wickets. This time Syd was on the same side as Gover whose 12 wickets bowled the home team to an innings victory. At the beginning of September, playing for the Army against a Lord’s XI, Jack was leg-before to county colleague Bill Edrich for 21. Having just been awarded the D.F.C., Squadron Leader Edrich’s appearance was met with great enthusiasm by the crowd of nearly 10,000; later when he went in to bat he was cheered all the way to the wicket by both players and spectators. 56 Edrich did not survive at the wicket for long, however, as Compton brilliantly caught him in front of the pavilion off Essex leg-spinner Peter Smith. Batting consistently, Jack and Syd each played a handful of matches in the 56 His award was for leading a section of 107 Squadron in a hazardous low-level daylight bombing raid on power stations near Cologne. Twelve of 54 Blenheim bombers failed to return.