Lives in Cricket No 38 - Lionel Robinson

68 The Great War driving force behind the establishment of the South Norfolk Village Cricket League; at two meetings in March 1920 it was agreed that the competition be limited to genuine village clubs and no fewer than 21 teams applied to join in the inaugural year. Unsurprisingly, Old Buckenham were one of the teams that founded the League and Hart was unanimously elected to serve as secretary; he would also prove to be an automatic selection for the league’s representative side. Lionel Robinson was asked to be president of the league and, at the end of the year, he permitted the league to play both its representative match against Honingham and District and the final of the league itself on his ground. At the conclusion of the final, Robinson gave a speech stating: ‘Pulham was the best village team that he had seen play on that ground. There were some who said cricket was dying out, but he found that since the war there had been a great revival, and wherever the British flag was flown cricket and football were played.’ Old Buckenham Hall continued to host important matches in the South Norfolk League for several years. Hart was, however, ambitious to play at a higher standard than the South Norfolk League. Given that Robinson had more or less ceased to put out sides, Hart resorted to organising, and presumably captaining sides playing under his own name. These were stronger than the village side, although several of the villagers did turn out, but would have been no match for one of Robinson’s teams – that the Eastern Daily Press deemed the results of his matches worthy of coverage indicates that Hart had been successful in escaping his humble beginnings. If there was no game to play Old Buckenham CC 1920. Front, left to right: W ‘Squibs’ Groom, P Derisley, P Whitehand, LWJ Hart, H Loveday, S Loveday. (Back) Stella Frost, H. Petley, (unknown), P. Loveday, B. Gascoigne, G Stewart, V Allington (courtesy of Roger Wilson)