Lives in Cricket No 45 - Brief Candles 2

52 More last-wicket heroes Kevin Martin is indeed the only number 11 to share a last wicket partnership of over 100 in his only first-class innings , but four others have done so in their only first-class match : Century partnership for tenth wicket in only first-class match Score/ Partnership M.O.Tandy Europeans v Parsees Poona 1900/01 64* / 114 B.A.Collins Oxford University v MCC Oxford 1901 83* / 149 F.G.Truman Victoria v South Australia Melbourne 1918/19 24 / 101 L.A.D.Beard Wellington v Otago Wellington 1927/28 60* / 123 K.C.Martin Natal B v Griqualand West Kimberley 1965/66 54* / 154* Of the four newcomers to this list, Truman is the only one whose century partnership came in his first innings - though he actually made a higher score in his second innings of the match. But let’s look at them in chronological order. Maurice Tandy earned an obituary in The Times and an entry in Who’s Who , though cricket is not mentioned in the former, and is referred to in the latter only as one of his ‘recreations’. Born into a military family in India in November 1873, he was in the Tonbridge School eleven from 1888 (when aged only 14) to 1891, scoring 901 runs at a healthy average of just over 20, with a highest score of 99 made against the Blue Mantles in June 1891. At school his batting was highly regarded, but his early successes flattered to deceive. Things certainly started well: “[he] bats wonderfully well for so young a player, and may be expected to make a lot of runs through the [coming] season” ( Cricket, 30 May 1889). But in 1890, Wisden remarked that, although he obtained “a very fair average” in 1889, he “must be cautioned against an overfondness for back play”; while a year later it was a different aspect of his game that came to greater notice: “Tandy was probably one of the best public school fieldsmen of the year, but otherwise he hardly realised expectation”. In his final season at school he showed “good batting”, but nothing more. His batting at the school - where he was also a star of the rugby XV - was characterised in The Tonbridgian in 1891 as “[combining] a strong defence with plenty of hitting power”, which doesn’t say a lot, but at least suggests that he had a fair all-round game. From Tonbridge it was on to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, where cricket continued to be part of his education; a best score of 91 is shown against his name in a match against the Royal Military College (Sandhurst) in 1892. After being commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1893, he finally returned to India in 1898, where he made for himself a distinguished career in the Survey of India, rising to the rank of colonel and to the position of Director of the Survey in 1926, while his active service in France and Mesopotamia during the First World War had led to the award of the DSO in 1918 and the OBE the following year. After retiring from the Number 11