Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

87 was caught behind. 115 In the second innings, the pair went out an hour before lunch on the last day with England 171 behind. Putting on 143 before Hutton was caught in front of the sightscreen, they ensured that New Zealand would have to wait longer for their first-ever Test victory. On a hot and sultry afternoon Jack played an assured innings. Batting for 15 minutes short of four hours, particularly strong off the back foot he hit one 6 and eleven 4s before he was dismissed by the persevering off-spinner Geoff Rabone for 121, brilliantly caught at square leg by Harry Cave. The match finished with England 306 for five. Jack had more than justified his promotion. However, it was to be his last home Test as Washbrook was brought back for the Third. 116 The selectors also brought in Simpson. He repaid them with a century but, although he would make another three over the next five years, he would never quite establish himself as an England regular. With matches played over just three days it was difficult for either side to force a result and the four-match series would finish as a goalless draw. The Second Test having finished, there was no rest for Jack and his four Middlesex colleagues as they had to travel straight up to Manchester to play Lancashire. 117 Next morning he was in the field at Old Trafford, watching a fit-again Washbrook score 71, and by the evening he and Syd were starting a partnership that would not be broken until the following afternoon, when Syd went five short of a century with the score 207. Jack finished with 159, but after these two successive centuries he had a run of poor scores that culminated in a duck against Warwickshire. Middlesex’s next match was against championship leaders Worcestershire who were 12 points ahead of Middlesex and Yorkshire in joint second place. Worcestershire had a strong attack led by the pace of Reg Perks, the county’s all-time leading wicket-taker, the wrist-spin of Roly Jenkins and the left-arm spin of Dick Howorth, each of whom took over a hundred championship wickets in the season. The match started on 23 July, the same day as the Third Test. Arguably Jack should have been taking the field with England rather than opening for Middlesex at Worcestershire’s beautiful ground. In 390 minutes of play on a warm and sunny day, he may well have been consoled by the score: Middlesex 623 for five declared, Robertson 331 not out. Having beaten Patsy Hendren’s 301* at Dudley in 115 Because New Zealand played little Test cricket the fast-medium Cowie only played nine Tests, one against Australia and eight against England. His record, 45 wickets at less than 22 apiece, is evidence of his class. When Middlesex met the tourists later in the season he dismissed Jack twice for a total of ten runs. Reporting on his outstanding tour with the 1937 New Zealanders Wisden said that ‘Had he been an Australian he might have been termed a wonder of the age.’ 116 It was suggested by Alan Mitchell, a New Zealand correspondent who accompanied the tour, that because uncharacteristically he had been ‘not exactly reliable in the field’, this may have influenced Jack’s further selection. Mitchell, Alan.W., Cricket Companions , Werner Laurie, 1950. 117 Travelling for the rest of the team was a little easier as they had bought themselves some time by beating Somerset at Bath with a day to spare. It was an interesting side. It included Gubby Allen, who was playing his second county match of the season and, at the age of nearly 47, made a first-innings 91 and took three wickets; Fred Titmus making his first-class debut aged 16; and Mike Brearley’s father Horace who was playing the last of his five first- class matches. Honours Shared