Lives in Cricket No 38 - Lionel Robinson

48 Bosanquet, who had not played at Old Buckenham earlier in the year, and thus had no experience of the turf, to skipper Lionel’s side and, when he won the toss, he naturally chose to bat first. This proved to be a disastrous move as the first five wickets fell for just 30 runs, the captain himself failing to trouble the scorers. At this point Alfred Evans was joined by Michael Falcon and they added a rapid 71 runs, ending with 48 and 29 respectively. Apart from a youngish ‘Patsy’ Hendren, who scored 27 batting at nine, no one else reached double figures as Robinson’s side limped to a total of 153, presumably blaming their poor showing in the wicket. Sid Pegler took six for 45, the first of many meritorious performances at Old Buckenham Hall. When the South Africans went in to bat, their innings followed a similar course. The first five wickets put on a mere 16 and only some resistance from the lower middle order enabled the tourists to reach 151, a deficit of just two runs. The most effective bowler was Falcon, who finished with six for 47, having caused the early collapse by taking five of the first six wickets. Over his career, Falcon fell just short of the highest pace but, in 1912, he was at his fastest and, given the helpful nature of the wicket, is it easy to imagine that the South Africans would have found his pace a little hard to handle, especially as he was able to make good use of a biting wind. In contrast, it was reported that Harry Dean was unable to spin the ball owing to the extreme cold; he then completed a miserable match by straining a ligament after bowling just five overs and took no further part. Robinson’s batsmen made a much better fist of their second innings. Hendren, promoted to number three, made 80 in just 75 minutes while opener Frank Tarrant fell just one short of a half century. The score had reached 254 for seven when heavy rain caused play to be abandoned for the rest of the second day and the innings closed at 255 early the next morning, with Pegler returning figures of five for 75 for a match haul of Putting Old Buckenham on the cricketing map Warren House at Old Buckenham, the MacLaren family home for several years until 1921. (Ian MacLaren album, courtesy of Michael Down)