Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

40 Intermission following summer, although not usually together. They did come together when the Army met Sir P.F.Warner’s XI in a two-day Whit Bank Holiday fixture, two strong sides each fielding six past or future Test players apiece. They both gave a good account of themselves, putting together opening partnerships of 37 and 55 against an attack that included a promising young Alec Bedser. Set 191 to win, Warner’s XI made 149 for one, with Jack taking the only wicket − a good one, Surrey’s Laurie Fishlock, who made 53. It is again indicative of the spirit in which matches were played that play was sportingly carried on in continuous rain until it was given up at 6.15, a gesture no doubt much appreciated by the 9,000 crowd. Although the middle Sunday of the match was a rest day it wasn’t wasted because the Army team, supplemented by Denis Compton, moved a few miles west to the attractive Wilton Park at Beaconsfield, where, as Captain Alan Parker’s XII, they defeated a side representing the local club by 31 runs in a match which raised £200 for a troops’ welfare fund. Jack top-scored in the match, making 36 before he was bowled by leg-spinner Bill Yates, who also made 35 when Beaconsfield batted. 57 Jack’s best performance of the season came at Lord’s in July when he scored a pre-lunch century for the Army against the Royal Navy. The game, played before a crowd of some 6,000 and with the White Ensign flying over the pavilion, was a mismatch, a very strong Army side (including nine past or future Test cricketers) winning easily. Having said that, with one exception, none of the first seven batsmen reached twenty, the failures among the batsmen including Denis Compton and Maurice Leyland. Jack was the exception; batting flawlessly for two hours, he was ‘very severe’ on the short ball, and among his boundaries was a six into the Grand Stand. Compton had some excuse for his failure – apparently he had strained his neck the previous day when he accidentally fell into a camouflaged trench! Syd took his turn showing what he was capable of, playing for Middlesex and Essex in the two-day August Bank Holiday fixture against Kent and Surrey. The Times said that when the match started there was the general air of expectancy among the 22,000 crowd normally associated with a Test match. The two sides certainly put on a fine show. Kent and Surrey batted first and made 193, Godfrey Evans hitting an even-time 55. They were undone by two Essex pace bowlers, one of whom, 41-year-old Stan Nichols (four for 47), had already completed a very successful first-class career. The other, the Dulwich College captain Trevor Bailey (four for 36), was soon to start an even more successful career, and gave notice to the crowd that they were watching a rising star by taking three wickets in his very first over, with no help from the field. Middlesex and Essex responded with 281 − Syd top-scoring with a steady 58 − and second time around were left 190 to win in 100 minutes. With 34 Syd again gave his side a good start, but although Compton and Edrich both made fifties, with five minutes left a seemingly impossible 26 runs were still needed. However, a flurry of 57 Yates was a professional footballer who had kept goal for Bolton Wanderers and Watford. He coached in the Netherlands for a number of years, but when the Germans invaded sensibly thought it wise to come back to Britain. He played his last match for Buckinghamshire in 1952, aged 49.