Lives in Cricket No 38 - Lionel Robinson

80 The visit of the Australians In 1921 Archie did a fair amount of socialising with the Australians during their tour; before he died, tourist Hunter Hendry told Michael Down that, when their itinerary found them in London, they were based at the Cecil Hotel and MacLaren, accompanied by his boozing chum Walter Brearley, would frequently visit them to ask their opinion of the various county players that they had encountered during their travels – possibly seeking information that would help him select his side to play the tourists at Eastbourne. 58 There seems to have been a fair bit of good-natured banter, with Archie suspecting the tourists of extravagantly praising British cricketers that they would actually be pleased to see selected to appear against them in the Tests. Having been given his chance, Archie wrote to Neville Cardus: ‘I think I know how to beat Armstrong’s lot; come and write about it for The Guardian .’ Cardus, ever the romantic, took his lifelong hero at his word and persuaded his reluctant editor to let him cover the match at Eastbourne rather than the fixture between Surrey and Middlesex, the result of which would decide the County Championship. No other cricket journalist of note had paid much attention to Archie’s rattling of his sabre and Cardus found that he was the only reporter from a national as opposed to a local paper in the press box when the match commenced. Archie’s Triumph at Eastbourne The story of Archie MacLaren’s eleven’s struggle to defeat the previously invincible 1921 Australians is one of the most heroic in English cricket lore. Although Lionel Robinson was not actually present at the match at Eastbourne, Ronald Mason is undoubtedly correct in attributing its 58 It was not until August that Archie discovered that he had been granted his wish and awarded carte blanche to organise and skipper ‘An England XI’. Johnny Douglas batting, Mailey fields. (Sydney Smith Collection, State Library of NSW)