Walter Robins

His father was Vivian Harry Robins (1880–1963), who played Minor Counties cricket for Staffordshire before the First World War as a leg-break bowler and right-handed batsman – characteristics which his son would also develop.

Robert Walter Vivian Robins (3 June 1906 – 12 December 1968) was an English cricketer and cricket administrator, who played for Cambridge University, Middlesex, and England.

A right-handed batsman and right-arm leg-break and googly bowler, he was known for his attacking style of play.

He captained both his county and his country; after the Second World War, he served several terms as a Test selector.

Born into a cricketing family, Robins attended Highgate School, where he earned a reputation as one of the outstanding schoolboy cricketers of his generation.

Robins was born in Stafford on 3 June 1906.

In 1917 the family moved to London, where Walter Robins attended Highgate School.

He was coached at cricket first by his father, to whom he would later attribute much of his eventual success, and, at Highgate, by the former England player Albert Knight.

He also played club cricket for East Molesey.

Attending Highgate from April 1921 until July 1925, Robins was four years in the football XI (captain for the last two), three years in the Eton Fives VI (captain for the last two) and was in the cricket first XI from 1922 to 1925, again being captain in his last two years; in 1925 he scored 816 runs for a batting average of 62.76, and took 60 wickets at a bowling average of 15.18.

These figures included a score of 206 against Aldenham School; his all-round performances made him, according to Wisden, "one of the great schoolboy players of the year".

He made his debut in first-class cricket, for Middlesex, in 1925.

In the summer of 1925, before entering Cambridge University, Robins made his debut in first-class cricket, when he appeared for Middlesex in the County Championship.

The match was on 19 August, against Worcestershire.

He was out for 0 in his only innings, and did not bowl.

Robins was awarded a scholarship to Queens' College, Cambridge, joining in October 1925; in the following summer he gained his cricket "blue" as a freshman.

Robins's career with Middlesex extended from 1925 to 1951.

At Cambridge he won cricket "blues" in each of his three years, 1926 to 1928.

At this stage he was seen purely as a batsman; in the 1926 University match against Oxford he made scores of 37 and 21 not out and did not bowl.

His development as a bowler may have been assisted by a spell he underwent, in 1926, at the Aubrey Faulkner cricket school.

In addition to his cricket prowess, Robins was a competent Association footballer, who played for Cambridge in each of his years at the university, being captain of the side in 1927.

In the following year against Oxford his scores were 55 and 41, but this effort was passed in 1928, when he scored 53 and 101 not out, and also made an impact as a bowler, with 8 wickets in the match.

His performance in the 1928 University match earned him a place in the Gentlemen's team, in the historic Gentlemen v. Players fixture at Lord's in June 1928, but here he was largely unsuccessful, taking no wickets and making little impact as a batsman.

He played his first Test match, against South Africa, in 1929, and thereafter played intermittently for England in each of the seasons up to 1937 – he played all his cricket as an amateur, which constrained his availability for both county and country.

A right-winger, he also played football for the Corinthians, a prominent amateur team, and later represented the professional side, Nottingham Forest, in two Football League matches, each on Christmas Day, 1929 and 1930.

After leaving Cambridge, he played his first full season for the county in 1929, scoring 1,134 runs and taking 162 wickets, thus performing the "cricketer's double" – the only time in his career that he achieved this feat although, as Wisden records, he came near to repeating it on several occasions.

Robins's positive batting, with the emphasis on attack, combined with his inventive bowling, made him a popular favourite with crowds.

He twice performed hat-tricks: first against Leicestershire in 1929, and again against Somerset in 1937.

He was also recognised as a brilliant fieldsman, often in the covers but equally, in the deep field.

His highest score for the county was 140, against Cambridge University in 1930, and his best bowling return was 8 wickets for 69, against Gloucestershire in 1929.

Robins was one of Wisden's five "Cricketers of the Year" in 1930.

He captained Middlesex from 1935 to 1938, again after the war in 1946 and 1947, and for a final season in 1950.

He toured Australia as vice-captain to G.O. Allen in 1936–37, and assumed the captaincy of the international side for three matches in 1937.

Robins was a member of the Test selectors' panel in 1946–48, in 1954, and finally in 1962–64 when he acted as chairman.

In 1947 he led Middlesex to the County Championship.

His son, Charles Robins, played for Middlesex from 1953 to 1960, as a leg-spin and googly bowler in the manner of his father.

He was controversially involved in an unsuccessful attempt, in 1954, to replace the current England captain, Len Hutton, with the young and inexperienced David Sheppard.

He was a strong advocate of "brighter cricket", to an extent that sometimes failed to recognise the realities of international cricket in the postwar era, and put him at odds with the players of a later generation.

This problem was evident when Robins served as manager of the touring team to the West Indies in 1959–60, when his forthright, autocratic approach adversely affected his relationship with the team's captain and vice-captain, Peter May and Colin Cowdrey.

Whatever his difficulties in coming to terms with the cricket of a later era, Robins was widely recognised as one of the most dynamic cricketers of his time, a fact that was acknowledged in the tributes paid after his death, in 1968, by his former playing colleagues.