Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

47 Chapter Eight Victory Summer The Times had already noted that Jack and Syd seemed to be a ‘ready- made pair for Middlesex’. It would be a while, however, before they could bat together again as Syd was otherwise engaged on the continent; he would spend most of the latter part of the war in Belgium before being demobilised early the following year. His commanding officer’s report said that he was ‘ a good disciplinarian’ and ‘extremely popular with his colleagues’. 64 However, Jack did appear regularly, and with some success, particularly in the Victory Tests. The war in Europe came to an end at the beginning of May, but of course it was not known then how long it would continue in the Far East. There was at least a partial resumption of first- class cricket in England, eventually amounting to 11 matches, beginning on Saturday 19 May at Lord’s with the first of the five (unofficial) Victory Tests, a memorable series which nearly 350,000 paid to watch. The Australian side was selected fromthe RAAF players of 1944, augmented by members of the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) cricket team. In all, the Australian servicemen played nearly fifty matches during the summer (as the AIF, the RAAF or the Services). Norman Preston, reporting on the Services team in Wisden, commented that the Tests were contested ‘in a spirit of fellowship and goodwill, which I, among many, would like to see continued when the real Tests come around again.’ Jack would play in four of the matches. The Australians were captained by Lindsay Hassett, remarkably the only Test cricketer in the side. England won the toss and batted first in front of a 23,000 crowd although, as the pitch was green and the outfield slow after heavy overnight rain, Hassett probably wasn’t too unhappy to field. Play began in overcast conditions but this did nothing to dampen the festive spirit of a crowd happy to see old enemies lock horns again. As the England batting began Hutton, Washbrook, Robertson, Hammond, Ames and Edrich, Jack was in good company. Only the absence of Compton and Hardstaff, serving in India, prevented this being a side fully representative of England’s batting at the time. To the obvious satisfaction of the many Australian servicemen in the crowd Hutton went quickly, caught at the wicket off Graham Williams. It was a wonder that either was playing. Hutton’s left arm was some two inches shorter than the other, following a commando training accident, whilst beanpole-thin pilot Graham Williams had only been recently released after four years as a prisoner-of-war, having lost much weight during his long captivity. With pace and several varieties of 64 Although Wisden 1945 described his rank as sergeant, his discharge papers showed him as corporal.