Lives in Cricket No 42 - Frank and George Mann

86 Post-War Gloom and a Glorious Summer the back of the incredible, record-breaking Championship batting of Edrich (2,257 runs, av 77.82) and Compton (2,033 runs, av 96.80). But they overlook the fact that Middlesex had to play nine matches with both absent on Test duty, sometimes with Robertson (2,214 runs, av 65.11) as well, and won seven of them. George’s own Championship contribution (842 runs, av 28.06, mostly batting at No.6) was more modest, but under him Middlesex won five out of seven Championship matches. His fielding had been variously reported as ‘brilliant’ and ‘excellent’ − in later seasons it was even ‘world-class’ − though contemporary reports less frequently give his position. There were, though, occasional references to him occupying mid off like his father, and this seems to be the position which he regularly took up when acting as captain, a post he eventually held in 100 of his 166 first-class games. George Mann took over from Walter Robins as full-time Middlesex captain in 1948, the year of Bradman’s ‘Invincibles’, which would become another season of trying to keep in the running for the Championship without the benefits of Compton and Edrich who would be absent during all five of the Ashes Tests. 44 However, in the first county match of the season, George demonstrated once again that the team had strength in depth. With both Compton and Edrich gone early in their second innings, he joined Robertson at the wicket at 50 for three, only 35 runs in front, and hit 65 in a fourth-wicket stand of 110 so that they could eventually narrowly beat Hampshire by 12 runs. Despite more of George’s efforts, 114 against Leicestershire after going in at 45 for three in reply to 323, and 116 at Trent Bridge after going in at 46 for three, Middlesex were never able to make a serious challenge to first-time champions Glamorgan, and finished third behind Surrey. As a bowling side, Middlesex had nowhere near the strength of Derbyshire, Glamorgan, Lancashire and Warwickshire, so their performance was a creditable one. According to Peebles the new captain was ‘a leader who automatically gained the affection of his side by his warmth and consideration, and their utmost respect by his fibre and quiet strength. Like his father, who was now president, he was the most selfless captain, without thought of anything but the interests of his side and individual members.’ This was confirmed by later recollections from George himself: Middlesex was a happy side and you just had to take the foibles of some of the team in your stride. Denis Compton was always vague. He would frequently lose his gear and on one occasion he got a marvellous hundred with the bat which Fred Titmus was just about to discard as a piece of dead wood. Then, Denis was always late and it was quite a relief when you actually saw him out on the playing area. As for Bill Edrich, well, we all knew he enjoyed his night life. Often, when the pair of them were in deep conversation at the wicket, I knew that they were much more likely to be talking about the day’s racing than the problems of the match in which they were engaged. But you couldn’t 44 Unlike Robins in 1947, George was rarely ‘unavailable’ and captained Middlesex in 25 of the 26 Championship fixtures in 1948.