Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

5 Preface I first became interested in − some might say obsessed with − cricket in the mid 1950s. I decided to choose a favourite cricketer. Living in Middlesex, which still existed as a county then, it was natural that I chose a Middlesex cricketer and, after due consideration, and despite the fact that he was coming to the end of his career, the honour was bestowed upon Jack Robertson. Unfortunately I never saw him bat, but I did see him field because my first trip to Lord’s was the first day of the Middlesex v Yorkshire match in 1957 when, looking back at the scorecard, I see that I watched Yorkshire opener Frank Lowson score the last of his 31 first-class centuries. I even wrote to Middlesex asking for and receiving Jack Robertson’s autograph. It was duly pasted into my autograph book. I wonder whatever happened to that autograph book? It also had Alf Ramsey’s signature in it, and those of sundry other lesser mortals. A club cricket colleague who had come to know Jack very well in his coaching days told me he thought it obvious that a biography was long overdue, and as Jack easily met the requirements of the Lives in Cricket series I began to look at his cricket career and life in more depth and think about what I was going to say. As I did, I realised that because they spent so much time batting together it was going to be difficult to write about Jack Robertson without similarly covering the career of his opening partner Syd Brown in some detail. I therefore asked the ACS if I could write a book about both of them and I am grateful to the Committee for allowing this slight tweaking of the usual Lives in Cricket format. Jack and Syd were one of county cricket’s most successful and entertaining opening partnerships, but their styles were different and their lives followed different paths after they left the first-class game; I hope this contrast makes for an interesting read. Inevitably, because he played longer, played Test cricket, went on two MCC tours, and stayed in the game after he stopped playing, there is more Robertson than Brown here. However, I hope I have given Syd Brown due credit for his important contribution to the game, and to his county’s success. Jack Robertson was without doubt unlucky not to have played more Test cricket. Syd Brown was not quite in the same class. However, in his history of Middlesex County Cricket Club, 1 David Lemmon assessed him as a better player than several who played for England in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Readers may like to entertain themselves by considering of whom he was thinking! Syd was also one of the outstanding fielders of his day and became a great favourite with spectators in the Mound Stand and in front of the Tavern who were able to enjoy his skills at close quarters. 1 Lemmon, David, The Official History of Middlesex County Cricket Club , Christopher Helm, 1988.