Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

83 gave Jack valuable support in partnerships of 95 and 125 against Sussex at Lord’s. By the middle of June, however, they were reunited on a regular basis. Jack and Syd’s first two century partnerships were particularly important because they contributed to wins in matches in which Middlesex were significantly depleted by Test calls. At Grace Road, Leicester, they were missing Compton, Edrich and Young. At Dover a month later John Dewes became a fourth absentee. With Les Berry and Gerry Lester starting each innings with a century at Leicester it was a good match for opening partnerships. At Dover, where George Downton, father of Middlesex and England’s Paul, kept wicket for Kent, Middlesex were victorious despite an Arthur Fagg double-century. After another good season Jack must have had hopes of selection for the MCC tour of South Africa the following winter. Of the English batsmen who played regularly in 1948 only five averaged over fifty: Hutton, Compton and Washbrook, who were all certainties for the tour, Jack, and Kent opener Arthur Fagg who was two years his senior and had played in five Tests before the war. However, Jack’s injury caused him to miss a crucial fortnight and, although he finished the season strongly, with the party announced in mid August it was too late to influence the selectors. In the event Nottinghamshire’s Reg Simpson went as reserve opener, but with Hutton and Washbrook each making over 500 runs in the Tests, and Compton and others shining further down the order, he had little chance to stake his claim to a regular England place. Aussie Summer Jack leaves the field in a match played at Winchmore Hill in 1948 for Laurie Gray’s benefit. Son Ian, in Sunday best, is clearly impressed.