Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

Against the best 78 first month of the trip would have had a familiar feel to it, in view of his earlier trips to Patiala, but from leaving the Indian coast behind to land at Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), it was all a new experience. A game against All Ceylon provided a welcome break from the watery world on which the party had existed for the previous three weeks - but it was all too brief and they were back on board straight after the game. Ten days later they arrived in Freemantle and the journey had taken its toll on one player, at least, as Jack Hobbs still suffering from the effects of sea sickness, missed out on the opening game against Western Australia. From this point on there would be thousands of miles covered overland as the party moved on to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, where they played Queensland as a final warm up game before the first ever Test match in Brisbane, on November 30. In the Queensland game Maurice went in at number eight, with the score standing on little more than 100 for six, but with his driving, both sides of the wicket, reaping rich dividends he collected 11 boundaries on the way to 114, his second century of the tour; his omission from the Test side must have been frustrating. It was all the more disappointing for those family members who had turned up in the hope of watching their famous English cousin play. As it happened Maurice was going to have to wait much longer for that chance. It was March 8, 1929, when he finally took his place in an England eleven and he had much to prove. Greetings card home from Australia on the 1928-29 tour, signed ‘love from Maurice’