Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

91 Chapter Sixteen End of an Era Culminating in their shared title, Middlesex had been third or higher in the Championship in every season since 1935. During the 1950s however, although they usually finished in the top half of the table, they never made a really strong bid for the title. And this at a time when their rivals south of the Thames won it outright seven years in succession. The great team of 1947 would be slowly dismantled over this period as age, injuries and loss of form took its toll. Syd would play his last match in 1955, and Jack four years later, by which time he was the last member of the champion side still playing for the county. 121 This is jumping the gun a bit however; the pair still had a lot to offer before they finally called it a day. The 1950s began with a shock as Middlesex fell to fourteenth place in the table. There were a number of reasons for the slump. Using 24 players they never had a settled side or even a regular captain because, although Robins returned to replace Mann (who had resigned because of business), he could play in only ten matches. The main problem continued to be the bowling with the opening attack still lacking a regular spearhead. The tireless Young again took over a hundred wickets, but the next highest wicket-taker was the ageless (well, 47-year-old) Sims with 67 victims. Unfortunately the batting was also not exempt from its problems. Compton (the famous knee) and Edrich (strained back) were both absent for lengthy periods. In addition, for the first time since they came together in 1938, Jack and Syd went through a season without posting a century opening partnership. This was mainly because, after starting the season moderately, Syd moved down the order, leaving Jack to open with Sharp, and later, after Cambridge, with Dewes. Syd’s form would eventually pick up a bit but, although he did manage just over a thousand runs including two centuries, his championship average, 28.65, was his lowest since the war. All this imposed a greater burden on Jack. He met the challenge and was easily his side’s main run-scorer, although Wisden commented that only occasionally did he display his former fluency. Remarkably, Jack and Syd were between them involved in five three-figure opening partnerships for the county in 1950, but each time with other partners. The first came at the end of May when Syd (142) put on 227 with Sharp (105) against Worcestershire. (When Syd scored his other century later in the season, a three-hour 130 against Gloucestershire, nearly half his side’s total, he and Jack put on 86 for the third wicket.) Jack had been away at Bradford playing for England in the Test Trial, where unfortunately he failed to score in his only innings, and where Jim Laker famously took eight for 2 in 121 Although Ian Bedford, who had promised much as a 17-year-old leg-spinner in 1947, would come back in 1961 and 1962 as captain.