John Sandford Robinson (5 February 1868 – 21 April 1898) was an English cricketer. He played for Cambridge University, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Nottinghamshire between 1888 and 1896.^[1] He was born at Arnold, Nottinghamshire and died at Worksop, also in Nottinghamshire.^[2] He was known during his lifetime as "Sandford Robinson" as his father was called "John Robinson".^[3]

Biography

Robinson's father founded the successful Home Brewery in Daybrook, Arnold in 1875, later acquired Worksop Manor and was knighted in 1905; Sandford Robinson was sent to Harrow School and then he went to Trinity College, Cambridge.^[4] As a cricketer, he was a right-handed batsman and an occasional wicketkeeper, but neither at school nor at university did he make much impression: at Harrow he did not play in the grand set-piece cricket matches against the other major public schools, though he did appear in a 12-a-side match with the MCC in 1886.^[5] At Cambridge, he played in two trial games but was given only one chance in the first team: a match against the Gentlemen of England in which he opened the batting, scored 7 and 1, and took a catch in each innings.^[6] He did no better in a game for Nottinghamshire later in that season and in single matches in both 1889 and 1890 against Cambridge University – playing for an opposing team was a frequent ploy used by Cambridge when they wanted to try a cricketer out, but in Robinson's case it led to no further first-team appearances.^[7]

Robinson graduated from Cambridge University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1890.^[4] In 1891 and 1892, he played first-class cricket fairly regularly for Nottinghamshire, captaining the team on occasion, and for some amateur teams, though only in 1892 did he have any success: his two first-class scores of more than 50 both came in this season.^[7] His best innings was a score of 72 in the Nottinghamshire game against Middlesex when he put on 161 for the fifth wicket with Arthur Shrewsbury, who made 212.^[8] At the end of the 1892 English cricket season he joined Lord Hawke's XI cricket team in Ceylon and India in 1892–93, where he played in a single first-class match; he did not then appear at all in first-class cricket in 1893.^[7] He reappeared in Nottinghamshire matches in 1894 and occasionally kept wicket that season, and at the end of it he went on a second tour, this time with Lord Hawke to North America, where he played in two first-class cricket matches.^[7] He played occasionally in both 1895 and 1896 with no success.

Robinson had other interests outside cricket, though he appears not to have had a career or profession. He was a captain in the Robin Hood Rifles, a volunteer army unit raised in Nottinghamshire and he also played football for Worksop Town F. C.^[3] He was also engaged in field sports and a fall from his horse while hunting two weeks before he died was thought to have accelerated his death, which was unexpected.^[3]

References

External links

• John Robinson at ESPNcricinfo
• John Robinson at CricketArchive (subscription required)