Lives in Cricket No 45 - Brief Candles 2

58 Number 11 spiritualists doubles in number, with Collins joining Arthur Conan Doyle in that select group. Collins died in Bedford, whence he had moved during the Second World War, in October 1951; his obituary in the Bedfordshire Times adds to our knowledge of him by reporting that he was a founder member and keen supporter of the Bedford United Nations Association, a scratch golfer, and a member of Bedford Croquet Club. But of cricket there is no mention, neither here nor in his entry in Who’s Who. It surprised me to read that, following his death, he was cremated; that strikes me as a slightly unexpected end for one with Collins’s views on death (at least Conan Doyle was buried). There is, sadly, no memorial to him at the crematorium at Golders Green, where this last act took place. I must necessarily be much briefer about the last two members of the select band being considered in this chapter. George Truman achieved the feat in partnership with Warwick Armstrong (162 not out) in one of the few matches played in Australia in 1918/19 before the fixture-list was abandoned in the face of the flu epidemic. In all, Armstrong - batting at number eight - added 173 runs for the last two wickets, 72 of them with Ted McDonald (38) before embarking on the stand of 101 with Truman, which had begun with Armstrong still 13 short of his century. Truman’s innings of 24 was ended by the last ball ever bowled in first-class cricket by South Australian veteran (and only very occasional bowler) Clem Hill. Truman had no reputation as a batsman; he was a regular number 11 for his club Carlton, and before this game his highest score for the club was said to be only 22. But in Victoria’s second innings he went in as nightwatchman at number three, and he and fellow-debutant Leslie Keating added 97 before they were parted on the third day. His 46 was far from chanceless (newspaper reports tell of a missed stumping and a dropped sitter), but for statisticians at least it is disappointing that the partnership could not have added just three more runs; for a player to have shared in a century partnership in both innings of his only first-class match would, so far as is known, have been unique. Truman’s real specialism was his right-arm fast-medium bowling. He had joined Carlton around 1915, and by the end of 1918 the Argus was reporting favourably on his prospects of state selection: ‘Some competent cricketers are of opinion that Truman of Carlton is a bowler who might with enterprise be hit. However that may be, they do not hit him, and he has become too consistent to be further ignored as a first-flight bowler. On Saturday [16 November 1918, against Richmond] with seven wickets for 32 runs, he added one more to many first-rate performances of the last two seasons.’ George Truman, successful at number 11 and at number 3.