Lives in Cricket No 38 - Lionel Robinson

30 Robinson comes to Norfolk Lionel Robinson hosts lunch at the first cricket ground, 1910, Boyce the butler (right) in attendance. to 10 September was assigned to Old Buckenham but the team included six players with first-class experience (see Appendix) and should clearly have been described as L Robinson’s XI. The fact that victory was achieved by a margin of 300 runs should have given the game away; Lionel, like another wealthy businessman, Sir Julien Cahn, who was to follow him as a bankroller of his own elevens, was keen to win and smiled fondly on crushing victories. He would certainly have been pleased with the results in 1910 as no fewer than 16 of the 20 games played by teams based in Old Buckenham were won and only one was lost, against a strong Norfolk Club and Ground (C & G) side. Unlike Cahn, he hated playing away from home; only four of those 20 matches (including those featuring the village side) involved travel to an away ground. Presumably Lionel was keen to play the bountiful host whenever possible and didn’t care to ‘slum’ it with the locals when on the road, whilst his opponents would have been equally keen to take advantage of his lavish hospitality. 28 A dog’s dinner In 1911 Robinson continued to bankroll matches at Old Buckenham and again his sides had a successful season; of the 18 games played for which details survive, as many as 16 were played at home with no fewer than 12 being won and only four seeing defeat. Victory was gained in the three most important games; in a rare trip to Norwich, Robinson’s team crushed the senior Norfolk side by seven wickets whilst the visiting Eton Ramblers 28 In passing one should note that this was Lionel’s finest season with the bat. In 12 innings, nine of them completed, he amassed no fewer than 74 runs, averaging 8.22. His top score was an unbeaten 27 against Quidenham Parsonage, an innings devalued by the fact that Old Buckenham had long since passed their opponents’ score when Lionel went in to bat.