Lionel Robinson: Cricket at Old Buckenham

Stephen Musk

maj 2014 · Lives in Cricket Libri 38 · Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians

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Lionel ‘Robby’ Robinson (1866-1922), Australian financier made good, settled at Old Buckenham Hall in the Norfolk countryside. There he hosted the 1912 South African tourists, the 1919 Australian AIF team, and most famously and intriguingly Warwick Armstrong’s 1921 Australians.

Former England captain Archie MacLaren ran Robinson’s cricket affairs. The ‘country house’ hospitality drew many of the notable players of the era, such as Michael Falcon.

Stephen Musk roots his story in Norfolk, and the wider world of cricket, and traces links to MacLaren’s famous win over the 1921 tourists at Eastbourne.

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Stephen Musk was born in Norwich. Aged twelve his father suggested that he cycle the four miles to the County Ground at Lakenham to watch Norfolk play. He has rarely missed a home day’s play since. Educated at the Norwich School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he was awarded a doctorate in cell biology in 1987 and a career in scientific research beckoned.

He is the author of Michael Falcon: Norfolk’s Gentleman Cricketer (ACS, Lives in Cricket: 15) and George Raikes: 'Muscular Christianity?' (ACS, Lives in Cricket: 46). This volume on Lionel Robinson is a logical continuation of his interest in cricketing matters in Norfolk.

The undoubted highlight of Stephen’s life was on 12 August 1978, when he was ‘plucked’ from the crowd at Lakenham as a substitute fielder for Norfolk against neighbouring rivals Suffolk. Although he had always been an appalling fielder, fortune smiled that Saturday, despite the murky light and drenching rain. He even had a favourable mention in the press.