Lives in Cricket No 38 - Lionel Robinson

41 Putting Old Buckenham on the cricketing map Robinson (for who the term ‘new money’ could have been invented) would have acquired anything like the recognition that he did without such an acceptable and capable ‘front man’ as MacLaren. 33 As will become clear, Archie’s time as Robinson’s manager of cricket was extremely successful – even, perhaps, the most successful phase of his lengthy cricket career, leading directly as it did to his famous victory over the seemingly invincible Australian tourists of 1921 at Eastbourne with a scratch side of his own choosing (see chapter six). As stated above, he was still able to bat with success and with much of his old style and the press was uniformly complimentary about his captaincy and leadership skills. Whether the ‘old dog’ had learnt ‘new tricks’ and mellowed as a skipper or whether the press just took a more lenient view of his captaincy in his dotage is unclear. The puzzle of Lionel’s forgotten ground Before discussing the fortunes of Robinson’s teams under the direction of Archie, the matter of Lionel’s two separate cricket grounds must be dealt with. Lionel appears to have been a perfectionist and, just as he was not satisfied with his first attempt to construct a new hall, he also decided to lay down a second cricket pitch. This was made in a clearing in the woods adjacent to the hall in readiness for the start of the 1912 season, and is the pitch still in use today. The Eastern Daily Press refers to the new ground but does not state explicitly that it was a second pitch and, as a result, the existence of the first ground has been more or less forgotten. One elderly resident of Old Buckenham still remembers that her father had spoken of cricket being played on an area which is now a paddock in the stud farm; all that remains of this is the pavilion, which has been converted to a thatched bungalow. This has a roof and an overall size and shape that are compatible with those of the building which is assumed to be the pavilion shown in pictures that date to matches played on Lionel’s ‘first ground’ in 1910. The pavilion constructed for the second cricket ground is still in existence, but elsewhere (see chapter seven) and is markedly different in structure from that from the first ground; it is clearly not the building seen in the ‘early’ photographs and confirms that Lionel had two altogether different playing areas constructed. From the map of the estate showing the location of Lionel’s two grounds, it can be seen that the ‘second ground’ is almost within a six-hit of the hall 33 There was nothing in MacLaren’s personal life to suggest that he would make a capable manager of anything. Although he had been educated at Elstree and Harrow, his family were not ‘old money’; nor were they even ‘new money’, but genuinely ‘no money’ as his father, James MacLaren, had been a cotton merchant who had virtually bankrupted himself in educating his seven sons. Archie exacerbated his own financial problems by his inability to manage what money he did possess and his tendency to get involved in pea-brained schemes which always failed to yield any profits. Even the regular allowance that came with his marriage to Maud Power in 1898 failed to prevent him from being convicted for the non-payment of rates in 1908. At various times before taking Robinson’s shilling he worked in the Manchester & Liverpool Bank, taught at a prep school, dabbled in journalism (notably for the Daily Chronicle ) and served as secretary to Ranjitsinhji in India between 1905 and 1908. Unfortunately, Ranji had no more clue about ordering his finances than did Archie and was permanently living on ‘tick’.