Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

48 spin the Australians had a well-varied attack; Jack batted confidently for just under an hour and a half in making 53 before he was trapped in front by an Ellis left-arm off-break. Australia responded to England’s 267 with 455, Keith Miller entertaining a large Whit-Monday crowd with an elegant century. As he had already bowled future Test adversary Bill Edrich when England batted, it was obvious that he was going to cause England future problems with bat and ball. Beginning their second innings next morning on turf drying in the sun after heavy rain, England once more had the worse of the conditions. Burly wrist-spinner Cec Pepper in particular was getting considerable turn, and his googly penetrated the defences of both Hutton and Washbrook with only 75 on the board. 65 In another admirable demonstration it was left to Jack to provide the backbone to the England innings. Batting for two hours 40 minutes in making 84, he defended skilfully against the turning ball whilst not missing the chance to capitalise on anything loose as evidenced by two leg-side 6s and five 4s. Australia eventually reached their target of 107 in 70 minutes for the loss of four wickets. It was a close thing: there were only three balls left and the clock showing seven o’clock when Pepper (54 not out, including an on-driven six into one of the Grand Stand boxes) made the winning hit. The Australian batsmen returned to the pavilion ‘amidst enthusiastic applause’ from the 18,000 present. England had done their bit by bowling their overs at a good rate. It was a match that had had something for everyone. A month later the sides met again at bomb-scarred Bramall Lane, Sheffield. Played on a ‘natural’ pitch, Wisden called it the finest match of the season. England were always on top, winning by 41 runs after having set Australia 330 to win on the last day. Jack’s contribution to the match was modest. In the first innings he unwisely chased a wide ball from Ellis and was caught at cover for 26. In fact this wasn’t a bad performance. The pitch was wet but drying under brilliant sunshine and Hassett had not surprisingly put England in. Hutton had already gone cheaply and Sismey the wicketkeeper had been forced to retire in order to have stitches in his chin which had been struck by a rising ball. Clearly conditions were far from easy. However, Jack stayed with Washbrook until the score had reached 81, and his resistance paved the way for a memorable Hammond century. In England’s second innings Miller showed just how fast he could bowl when the mood took him and, having previously hit Hutton on the left arm and Washbrook on the head, he beat Jack for pace and pinned him in front of the stumps for just one. This was probably some revenge for Miller who had been run out by Jack earlier in the day when he tried to take a sharp leg-side single. For England, Derbyshire’s George Pope (eight wickets in the match) and Lancashire’s Dick Pollard (six wickets) had both made excellent use of the heavy northern atmosphere on their ‘England’ debuts in a match watched by some 50,000 people. Jack missed the third match in the series as England went for extreme youth, selecting three 18-year-olds who had all shown great promise at school in 1944: Donald Carr (Repton), Luke White (Eton) and John Dewes 65 Pepper was an unforgettable character who surely should have played Test cricket. Victory Summer