Lives in Cricet No 33 - Jack Robertson and Syd Brown

93 End of an Era toured, his replacement, perhaps a little surprisingly, would have been Yorkshire’s Willie Watson. 125 After the heavy defeat in Australia, following defeat by West Indies, there was much soul-searching about the state of English cricket. As it happened, with a number of talented young players coming through into the side, 1951 would see the beginning of an upturn which would mean England remained undefeated until the end of the decade. One weakness would remain: a settled opening partnership. For whatever reason, Jack would play only a relatively small part in resolving this difficulty. Things also improved for Middlesex in 1951 and they finished a solid seventh in the Championship, despite still not having solved the captaincy problem. There were hopes that Mann would return, but in the event Compton and Edrich were appointed joint captains. The bowling was still overly reliant on Young, who bowled twice as many overs as anybody else, but there were further signs that the next generation was emerging in 17-year-old Yorkshire-born allrounder Don Bennett and 20-year-old fast bowler Alan Moss, who both took more than 40 wickets. 126 Jack and Syd both had good reason to feel satisfied with their seasons. It was Jack’s benefit year, but as he fell just 83 short of making three thousand runs in the season it clearly didn’t affect his form. 127 Wisden thought that his success ‘deepened the mystery of his inability to become an established member of England’s team’, whilst Michael Melford, writing in the Playfair Cricket Annual , thought that he had never played better and that his double-century at Taunton would not ‘easily be forgotten by anyone who saw it’. For Middlesex alone he made 2,622 runs, a total only 47 runs less than Hendren’s record for the county set in 1923. His tally of 25 fifties, including seven hundreds, was however a new county record, beating Hendren’s 24 in 1928. Syd also prospered, making the highest first-class score of his career, and reunited regularly again after their barren spell of the previous year, the partners posted six century opening stands. According to Michael Melford, Syd’s entertaining approach was not fully rewarded until late in the summer when he was back to his best. It was a good year for him in an even more important way as before the season began he married Pamela Marion Woodham. Having been briefly married before it was Syd’s second marriage. Syd and Pam set up home in Oldfield Avenue, Greenford. They had one child, Robert (Rob), who was born in January 1962. Pam occasionally used to go to Lord’s to watch Syd, and apparently occasionally she would fall asleep − I’m sure most of us have sometimes done that at cricket! − or take advantage of the proximity of London’s shops to indulge in some retail therapy. 125 Minutes of MCC Selection Subcommittee, 27 August 1950. 126 Moss was an Evening News colt, the (now defunct) London evening paper having set up a scheme to identify and arrange coaching for promising young cricketers. A fine bowler, he unfortunately played at a time when England could call on a number of exceptional quick men. 127 A total only exceeded twice since: by M.J.K.Smith in 1959 (3,245) and W.E.Alley in 1961 (3,019). For obvious reasons such aggregates are unlikely ever to be approached again.