Lives in Cricket No 38 - Lionel Robinson

53 Further Successes At Old Buckenham whilst Dr Edmund Rose (a GP at nearby Attleborough and in all probability the Robinsons’ family doctor) helped himself to 115. 44 Following an equally convincing victory over Carrow, the next team up for ritual humiliation at the hands of Lionel were the Incogniti, who did not send a particularly strong team and should have known better. They held their own for the first half of a two-innings match but then found themselves overwhelmed by a double act of Eric Fulcher and Sid Pegler. The former made 97 and 57, also helping himself to eight wickets, whilst the latter scored 55 and 126, taking four wickets. In the face of those two outstanding players, the Incogniti went down by 207 runs, only their ‘guest’ player Conran doing himself justice; in the home team’s second innings he returned figures of seven for 115, despite the Eastern Daily Press reporting that he received inadequate support from his fielders. The first of the two first-class matches arranged for the year took place at the beginning of July, when Cambridge University visited for a 12-a-side fixture, their last before the Varsity Match. 45 Although Robinson’s side contained four players with Test experience (Archie, Bosanquet, Pegler and Schwarz) the captaincy was entrusted to local all-rounder Michael Falcon. He was unsuccessful with the toss but saw his side asked to bat first. It had been reported that much work had been done on the wicket to produce a surface that Lionel would have approved of (it was reported that it had a ‘glazed appearance, resembling the “cast iron” wickets of Australia’) but a considerable amount of rain had fallen in the 24 hours before the match and it was expected that batting would be tricky on the first day. After a relatively good start, to which Bosanquet contributed 86, the university shuffled their bowlers and the sixth and seventh, skipper Mulholland and Freddie Calthorpe (every bit as ‘Honourable’ as his captain), each bagged four cheap wickets to dismiss Robinson’s side for 195. In response, the Light Blues also found batting tricky and crumbled before the bowling of Falcon and Pegler; their ninth wicket fell at 102, at which point Eric Kidd came to the crease. It was reported that he was batting at ‘jack’ due to having a ‘bad hand’ but this did not seem to inconvenience him as he walloped 20 runs off the first six deliveries that he faced and finished on 34 not out when the innings closed at 139. On an improving wicket, Robinson’s side batted more successfully in their second knock with Bosanquet passing 50 for the second time in the match, but they still only had 238 on the board when Archie, who had been sent in at number ten, was joined by the last man, Guy Napier. They added 69 runs in just 37 minutes, with MacLaren finishing unbeaten on 50, an innings described as ‘splendid’. Set 364 to win, Cambridge seemed to be subsiding gently to defeat at 204 for eight with Barry Cumberlege having been persuaded not 44 In truth, the Wanderers were victims of some sharp practice. Knowing that the home team would probably be strong, they had hired the professional bowler Roderick Falconer for the afternoon to try and even things up. Apparently, Archie and Lionel found themselves a player short for once and, needing a bowler, shamelessly outbid the visitors for the services of Falconer who ‘went over to the opposition’. His six wickets made a significant contribution to the home team’s victory. 45 Cambridge were reputedly a strong batting side, having scored 609 for eight in their previous match, an innings defeat of the MCC.