Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

56 had performed well in the limited 1945 season, his cv including a century for England against the Australian Services, and his continued good form at the start of 1946 earned him a place in the First Test against India. Fifty- one runs for once out was a solid start, but perhaps not good enough yet to quite cement his place in the side. A good performance by Jack, playing for The Rest in the second Test Trial at Canterbury a fortnight later, might therefore have seen him rewarded with an England call-up. He went in first wicket down. Unfortunately he failed to score in the first innings and, although he redeemed himself in the second with 58 (caught Washbrook!), his Lancastrian rival made 120 and 89, albeit that, playing for the opposing ‘England’ side, he had the advantage of facing the weaker Rest attack. With a fifty in the Second Test Washbrook established himself as Hutton’s partner; and finishing the season with an average of nearly 69 and nine centuries, he was a certainty for the tour of Australia. A number of opening batsmen had had statistically better seasons than Jack and might have had hopes of the reserve opener’s berth. In the event Laurie Fishlock of Surrey was chosen. Presumably the selectors thought a left-hander might come in useful. With 2,200 runs and an average of 50 he had had a fine season. He would maintain this excellent form for a few more seasons but, almost forty and with an unsuccessful tour to Australia ten years before, he was not likely to be one for the future. Fishlock contributed little with the bat on the tour, but given that Hutton and Washbrook opened with a century three times during the series, it was unlikely that whoever went as reserve opener would have been able to break into the side. Although Syd’s performance during the season had established his place in the Middlesex side, his record, though very creditable, was not a good as Jack’s. In fact, although Syd would bat consistently over the next decade, with the exception of 1953, he would always be subordinate in achievement to his opening colleague. His season had peaked in July when, as well as his century at Trent Bridge, he made another, at Westcliff-on-Sea, one of the many grounds that Essex used during their annual nomadic tour around the county. Chalkwell Park was an attractive tree-lined ground, with a view of the Thames Estuary behind the sightscreen at the southern end. Syd probably liked it: he played there twice and made a century each time. Middlesex were lacking Denis Compton, and Syd’s brilliant 118 in ninety minutes on a difficult drying pitch was almost half of his side’s first-innings total. On the way he became only the sixth batsman to score a hundred runs before lunch for the county on the first day of a match. It was an important innings. Without it, it is unlikely that Middlesex would have won and maintained their challenge for the Championship. Resumption