Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

49 (Aldenham). Carr would be Jack’s last Test-match captain and Dewes was a solid, determined, left-handed opener about whom we will read more later. Dewes made a useful 27 in the first innings before being bowled by Miller, but overall the trio contributed only 47 runs as Australia won by four wickets, and Jack was back for the fourth match at Lord’s at the beginning of August. With intervening scores of 115 for W.R.Hammond’s XI 66 against the RAF at Abbeydale Park, Sheffield, and 57 for the Army against the RAF at Lord’s, the selectors could hardly overlook him. The match, which began on Bank Holiday Monday in front of a packed crowd of 34,000, was a high-scoring draw in which Miller and Washbrook both made centuries. Jack’s only chance to bat came on the second day after Australia had made 388 and Hutton and Surrey’s Laurie Fishlock had put on 73 for England’s first wicket. He started confidently with a short-arm hook to the boundary, but when he had made 25 he was caught at slip by Miller off Jack Pettiford, a useful leg-spinning allrounder who would play with some success for Kent in the 1950s. Play on the second day was watched by newly elected Prime Minister, and genuine cricket devotee, Clem Attlee. England eventually made 468 for seven declared but did not leave themselves enough time to bowl out Australia and square the series. Jack retained his place for the fifth and final match of the series at Old Trafford. With the Japanese surrendering a few days before, the war had finally come to an end (although surrender documents would not be formally signed until September). The ground and buildings had suffered from the attention paid them by the Luftwaffe. Rebuilding had begun, however, with German prisoners paid three farthings an hour for painting some of the buildings and ensuring that certain parts of the bomb-scarred ground were in a safe condition. The match was played on another ‘natural’ pitch with a heavy outfield; not surprisingly scores were low. Therefore, although Jack only made 50 runs in his two innings, they contributed significantly to England’s eventual six-wicket victory. The gates were closed at noon on some 28,000 spectators who saw 15 wickets fall on a first day which ended with England 162 for five in reply to Australia’s 173 (Miller 77 not out). Jack, going in first wicket down, just about settled in but when he had made 13 he was deceived by Pepper and gave square leg an easy catch. Rain on the second day severely curtailed play, but by the close England, after gaining a first-innings lead of 70, had reduced Australia to 37 for three. Jack had a hand in the collapse, catching Pettiford at silly mid off from the fast-medium bowling of Lancashire’s Eddie Phillipson who would take an impressive nine wickets in the match. Things didn’t improve for Australia next morning. A damp pitch drying in brilliant sunshine gave the pace bowlers considerable help, and with Australia’s eighth wicket falling at quarter past one with only 105 on the board, the crowd could have expected to be going home soon after lunch. That they didn’t was due to Bob Cristofani who, going in at eight, scored 110 not out in 140 minutes, the only century of a modest 18-match career that would finish at the end of the following year. As he had also taken five for 55 in England’s first innings with his wrist-spin, he would have been a very good candidate for 66 Hammond dropped out with lumbago and Jack captained the side. Victory Summer