Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

an imminent confrontation with a hungry tiger or two. On wakening, however, they discovered that the animals in question were actually caged. The Maharajah kept a private zoo just to the rear of the pavilion. During that trip Maurice was also able to step in and help out an MCC touring party, for a couple of games at Rajputana, and managed to chalk up a half century after opening the innings with Surrey’s Andy Sandham. Nothing quite so dramatic occurred during this third trip although there was some good cricket and Kilner had a particularly good game at Delhi in November, at the start, with 283 not out for Rajendra Gymkhana versus Gurgaon. Nevertheless, overall, it was an enjoyable stay with grand social events like tiger hunts and tea parties to attend as guests of the royal family; and all duly recorded by Maurice with his camera. No one could have imagined the drama, and ultimate tragedy, that lay ahead as the Yorkshire trio set off, at the beginning of March, on their long journey home. Their thoughts, Maurice’s wedding to Connie Russell apart, would have been on the task of wresting the County Championship from the old enemy Lancashire. Exactly what happened next has never been satisfactorily explained but what is indisputable is that Roy Kilner became very ill on that homeward journey and died less a month later in the Kendray Fever Hospital, near Barnsley. In today’s world of jet speed air transport it is impossible to imagine the kind of journey that the 1920s globetrotters were forced to undertake. The trip home from Patiala began with an 850-mile rail journey to Bombay, via Delhi, Jaipur and Baroda, followed by a 4,500 mile sea trip to Marseille via Aden, the Suez Canal and Port Said. From there it was overland through France to Le Havre, by sea to Southampton, train to London and then home to Yorkshire. The night before they set sail from Bombay, Kilner had to be taken to his room in the middle of a game of billiards he and his friends had struck up with the renowned player Claude Falkiner. Maurice later described his part in this game with Falkiner by remarking: “I held the other cue.” As they enjoyed that last night in India, Maurice and Arthur Dolphin would have had no idea just how serious the situation with their travelling companion 1928, an unforgettable year 65