Basil Robinson's bench, the Parks, Oxford

Spring has finally arrived in England in late April, and cricket is underway at the Parks in Oxford. Oxford MCCU is being outplayed by Worcestershire, and the cool wind encourages the spectator to not linger in one spot for too long. On the cover boundary a number of park benches sit under shade trees. It is worth reading the dedications carved in the backs of the benches – one is in memory of Colin (later Lord) Cowdrey, another in memory of the great New Zealander Martin Donnelly. The newest is inscribed “In honour of H Basil Robinson, Rhodes scholar (Canada) and Oxford cricket blue (1947, 1948), from his children“.

Basil Robinson died just before Christmas 2012 and his life encompassed far more than cricket – an outstanding war record, followed by years of public service, reaching the highest echelons of the Federal Civil Service as a Deputy Minister, advisor to the Diefenbaker government and awarded the Order of Canada in 1990 (the Globe and Mail has an excellent obituary). But despite all this, his family chose to place this memorial in the Parks, Oxford, and this perhaps shows just how important cricket was in his varied and long life.

How good a cricketer was Basil Robinson? His first class career was brief – the 1947 and 1948 university seasons, plus a few matches a decade later when Canada toured the UK. There’s little doubt, however, that he was one of the best cricketers Canada ever produced – an automatic inclusion in a Canadian cricket hall of fame.

He was born in England, but his family moved to Vancouver when he was less than a year old. He learned his cricket on the grounds of Vancouver, attending North Shore College. Cricket was flourishing in Vancouver in the 1920s and 30s with upwards of twenty teams competing. An Australian team featuring Bradman, McCabe, Kippax, Fleetwood-Smith and Mailey played three matches at Brockton Point in 1932, with crowds of 2000 seeing Bradman twice score centuries. The strength of Vancouver cricket was displayed when the powerful Australian XI lost one match to XV of the Mainland All Stars by 12 runs. It is perhaps not too fanciful to place young Basil Robinson in the crowd in Stanley Park, and the sight of one of the greatest of all cricketers must have been inspiring.

Whether he was there or not, next year the 14-year old Robinson was captaining a Vancouver Junior side against Kelowna and in 1936 he was dominating youth cricket in British Columbia, with the best all round performance ever recorded in a Canadian season – he scored 1,533 runs and captured 182 wickets for the Vancouver Junior Cricket Club that year. He played twice against a touring MCC squad in 1937 for the Mainland All Stars and Vancouver Juniors, performing respectably against a team mainly composed of former University players.

He entered UBC in 1938 and was responsible for introducing cricket as a University sport, as well as excelling at soccer and rugby (also editing the sports newspaper and serving on student council). In 1939 UBC won the lower mainland title with Robinson averaging over 40 with the bat. In 1940 he was named UBC’s Rhodes Scholar. Rhodes scholarships are for study at Oxford and are awarded on the basis of excellence in scholarship, athletics and community service. The Second World War was well under way, and Robinson chose to defer his scholarship, joining the Army instead. He served as an intelligence officer in the Netherlands, assisting the Dutch underground resistance movement against the Nazis. He was made a Knight Officer of the Order of Oranje-Nassau for his work.

At the end of the war, he had a brief spell in Ottawa where he immediately established himself in the cricket community, dominating one 1946 match with 114* and 6/10 with the ball.. He then decided to take up his Rhodes scholarship in 1946, and the winter of 1946-47 saw him at Oriel College.

In recent years Universities cricket has seemed somewhat of an anachronism, with the students barely competitive against the professionals of the counties, and their first class status in question. In the forties and fifties however Oxford and Cambridge were powerful teams. In 1947 Oxford lost to Yorkshire and the MCC but beat four counties, including the eventual champions, Middlesex. In 1948 they did better, not losing to a county and beating two. The 1947 University match had two players who had already played Test cricket and two more who would go on to do so, plus ten who played county cricket. To even be selected for Oxford in that era indicated that you were a cricketer of some quality.

Basil Robinson was a remarkable man, with an extraordinary all-round record – sportsman, Rhodes scholar, soldier and public servant. When he made the Oxford University teams of 1947 and 1948 however he was in exceptional company. His team-mates included Martin Donnelly who played rugby for England and is considered one of the greatest bats New Zealand ever produced (averaging over 50 in tests). Abdul Kardar played for both India and Pakistan in tests, leading Pakistan to their first victories over Australia and England. Kardar later became PCB President, and Pakistan’s ambassador to Switzerland. Tony Pawson played first class cricket, first division football, and became world fly-fishing champion, as well as having a distinguished journalism career. Clive van Rynefeld was a double blue, and played for England at rugby before playing Test cricket for South Africa. He was elected to parliament while still playing for the national team, and co-founded the anti-apartheid Progressive party. Then there was Geoffrey Keighley who represented Yorkshire despite being born in France (a more significant achievement than many would realise, Yorkshire having a strict born in Yorkshire policy at that time); Ron Maudesly who went on to captain Warwickshire, while conducting distinguished legal scholarship at Oxford before becoming professor of law in San Diego; and Hubert Webb who had blues in four sports, and later was professor of neurovirology at St. Thomas.

The 1947 season was dry and warm, resulting in excellent batting wickets. Edrich and Compton both made over 3000 first-class runs and combined for thirty centuries; the South Africans also toured, and the war finally was fading from memory. Neville Cardus wrote: “Never have I been so touched on a cricket field as I was in the heavenly summer of 1947. Each stroke a flick of delight, a propulsion of happy, sane, healthy life.”

There had perhaps been little time for cricket in the last 5 years, potentially the most productive period of a sportsman’s career, but April 1947 saw Robinson playing in the main trial match, Donnelly’s XI against Bloy’s XI. He did not make his mark with the bat but bowled his way into contention with five wickets in the first innings. Although sometimes described as a brisk off-spinner or even a medium pacer, Wisden in 1948 clearly describes his pace as “slow”, and the fact that he took the majority of his wickets through catches suggests he tossed the ball up. His 2013 Wisden obituary describes his bowling as “sharp-turning” offspin.

There was strong competition in the spin bowling department with Kardar bowling his slow left arm in Tests, and off spinner Tony Sutton having a good season in 1946. Sutton was preferred initially but after a draw against Gloucestershire, and an innings defeat against Yorkshire Robinson joined him in the team to make his first class debut against Lancashire. Robinson made 51, his highest first-class score batting at number 7, but then came up against Winston Plaice in the form of his life. Plaice made his first-class best of 266* and Robinson bowled 16 expensive overs without reward. He made a duck in the second innings – a tough introduction for first-class cricket.

He was played against the touring South Africans the following week, making a solitary run but taking three wickets as the tourists piled up over 500. His wickets were the top three of the batting order including two of the finest bats ever to play for South Africa- Alan Melville and Bruce Mitchell. He bowled 44 overs, at the relatively economical cost of 151 runs.

He was rested for the next match but returned for the win over Leicestershire – another duck, but respectable bowling, and stayed in the side for the Combined Services game where he was out-bowled by Sutton. He took a couple of late order wickets as Oxford defeated the eventual county Champions Middlesex (but without Compton and Edrich), but continued to struggle with the bat. The next match, against Worcestershire, likely earned him his place at Lord’s as he took 6/55 in the first innings. He did not stand out with the ball but made 18 (run out) and 15* in another win over Sussex. His six wickets against the MCC included England captain FR Brown, and Essex skipper TN Pearce – and gave his first experience of Lord’s.

The University match used to be one of the highlights of the English season, and being selected for the match gave Robinson his “Blue”. It was widely reported in the Canadian press that Robinson was the only Canadian ever to receive a Blue, and at the time this was technically correct. After Confederation in 1949, however JS Munn, born and raised in Newfoundland needs to be considered – Munn played for Oxford against Cambridge in 1901.

Oxford dominated the match, Pawson’s 135 leading them to 457 when they batted first, and then Robinson and Kardar spinning out Cambridge for 201. Robinson took 4/55, and his wickets included Trevor Bailey, Datta who played first-class cricket for Bengal, and Hugh Watts of Somerset. Cambridge followed on and batted throughout the third day to draw the match. Robinson took 2/99, this time dismissing Doug Insole (9 tests for England and 54 first-class hundreds).

The 1948 English season was dominated by the touring Australian squad who earned the nickname “Invincibles” though not losing a match- 23 wins, 9 draws. The team was led by Don Bradman, his final tour of England. The County Championship was won by Glamorgan for the first time, and Basil Robinson’s Oxford were unbeaten – one of their best seasons ever. Martin Donnelly had left but Clive Van Ryneveld joined the team, meaning that Oxford’s spin attack featured two test spinners and Robinson.

As in 1947, Robinson got off to a good start with the bat, making 48* as rain prevented the match with Gloucestershire coming to an interesting conclusion (this was Tom Graveney’s first-class debut but Robinson did not bowl to him; Graveney made a duck opening the innings). He made 32* (and a duck) against a powerful Yorkshire team; he picked up a couple of wickets as Oxford had the better of a draw against a side featuring Hutton, Wardle, and Watson. Two more draws followed, with Robinson taking 5/64 against Warwickshire in the second. Four more wickets followed against Free Foresters, another rain affected draw, then two more against Lancashire – yet another draw in a wet spring. He took 5/65 against Sussex, his victims including Test batsmen David Shepherd, James Langridge and Alan Oakman. He was less successful in yet another draw against Surrey, not taking a wicket in the one innings completed, but was in the XI for the University match.

He barely was needed- Oxford had a powerful bowling attack, and he bowled just three overs in the match as first Whitcombe (7/51) then van Rynefeld (7/57) bowled Oxford to an innings victory over a Cambridge team with four players destined for Test cricket.

That marked the end of his Oxford career. In August he played for the MCC on a brief tour of the Netherlands, under the captaincy of former England skipper Gubby Allen. He took 10 wickets in the first match against the Dutch National team, forming a spin partnership with Ian Peebles, and also contributed 40*.

In 1949 he was back in Canada and playing in the Ottawa Valley Cricket League, and balancing cricket with his public service career. In 1951 the MCC, captained by Walter Robins toured Canada and Robinson played against them twice for Ottawa and twice for Canada. Robinson only bowled one over in the four matches, possibly due to injury.

In 1954 Robinson was working in England and was selected to captain Canada’s first full tour. The tour was considered a success on several fronts, but was hit severely by wet weather. Robinson himself had disc problems and again barely bowled. He returned to Lord’s to face an MCC side that included Gubby Allen, Walter Robins, RES Wyatt and Bill Voce, making 21* from number 11, and captaining the side to an exciting 13 run win – he declared to set MCC a target of just 224. The Canadians were less successful against Pakistan losing by an innings, again at Lord’s. He did bowl against Yorkshire,t aking 3/40, including the wicket of former England captain Norman Yardley, and he made 27 against the attack of Trueman, Wardle, Illingworth and Close before being run out for a duck in the second innings – perhaps not the most distinguished end to his last first-class match.

How good a cricketer was he? The evidence suggests very good indeed. Despite losing years to the war he played at the highest level for two seasons in England, taking 53 wickets at an average of 27.2. Those 53 wickets included Bailey, Langridge , Yardley , Shepperd , Insole, Mitchell, Melville, Brown, and Oakman – 295 first-class hundreds between them, and numerous Test caps. His batting, dominant domestically, was less impressive, with just a solitary half-century.

He carried on playing cricket into the 1960s, briefly playing in Vancouver when on leave from his job in Paris in 1955, then in Ottawa (taking 9/22 for New Edinburgh in 1957). From that point his career took over, translating his on-field leadership skills to diplomacy of the highest level. The Globe and Mail obituary gives an outline of this remarkable career, and also talks about how he hated winter. Perhaps that provides some insight as to why his children chose the Parks as the place to remember him. On the right day (May, sunny, warm) there are few lovelier sights than cricket in the Parks and no better place to put winter behind you and contemplate the glories of summer, and the sport that fits it best. If you go to Oxford, find Basil’s bench and remember him. He began his family memoir with the following words, and his death notice in the Ottawa Citizen suggests that he would like us to apply them to his remarkable life.

“Of this man, let us not say il est mort (he is dead) but rather il a vécu (he has lived).”