With a new campaign just weeks away, Richard Spiller looks back to 1945, when minds were still on conflict, not sport
Spring is the favourite season for most cricketers, full of hope and expectation before the collision with reality.
Yet in the early months of 1945, cricket was a long way down the list of priorities for the vast majority of people.
The Second World War was in its sixth year but the end was in sight. The British and American forces in the west of Europe were closing in on Germany, just as the Russians prevailed in the most brutal battle in history in the east. The unconditional surrender – Victory in Europe Day – finally came on May 8.
The fight was not over yet, though, Japan not being finally defeated until after the dropping of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August and VJ Day arriving on August 15.
Now the world could begin to rebuild after a conflict which had cost millions of lives.
Peace was perhaps the greatest gift Surrey County Cricket Club could have requested as a 100th birthday present. The centenary celebrations were necessarily muted. Had members not continued to pay their subscriptions throughout WW2, survival might have proved impossible.
The major task ahead was returning The Oval to a condition in which it could stage cricket – no easy task and one which some estimated might take up to three years.
New groundsman Bert Lock was the man charged with that job, Bosser Martin – scourge of bowlers before the war with his “pet” heavy roller – having retired.
No sooner had Lock been demobbed by the RAF, and without taking any holiday, he got to work and what a challenge he faced.
The Oval had been requisitioned as soon as the war started in September 1939, initially housing anti-aircraft spotlights. Then it had been converted into a prisoner-of-war camp, designed to host German parachutists, but was never used.
The closest a German came to the ground appears to have been on September 15 1940, the day when the Battle of Britain came to a climax.
According to local historians, a Dornier was brought down and its pilot, Feldwebel Robert Zehbe, landed outside Alverstone House in Harleyford Road. His parachute became snagged on a telegraph pole but whether Zehbe’s injuries were sustained from anti-aircraft fire, the descent or a vengeful group which greeted him is unclear. Zehbe had to be rescued by the Police and was taken to the Millbank Military Hospital, where he died the following day.
During the Blitz on London, a bomb killed 104 people on the nearby Kennington Park estate but The Oval suffered mainly superficial damage, windows being blown out of the Surrey Tavern by one explosion with a few holes here and there around the ground.
What the Germans failed to do – it’s unlikely any PoWs would have fully appreciated they were on the hallowed ground once occupied by Grace, Hobbs,Bradman et al – the War Office achieved.
The square was riddled with weeds while the outfield, a former market garden converted 100 years earlier with turf from Tooting Common, had been ruined by huge bases for the huts which would have accommodated the prison along with 1,000 piles two feet deep, wooden posts and miles of barbed wire.
If building material was scarce, and would remain so for some time, then manpower was plentiful as work parties set about restoring the ground. Lock needed to find new turf, walking miles across Gravesend Marshes before he came upon the quality he was seeking.
While The Oval began to take shape again, Surrey finally returned to the field. They had last been in action on August 31 1939, a County Championship match against Lancashire at Old Trafford which was abandoned as a draw after two days because of the outbreak of war.
Six years on, Surrey took to the field again on August 25 in a two-day friendly against Sussex at the Cambridge Avenue home of Malden Wanderers.
Pre-war captain Monty Garland-Wells was in charge again as the visitors were bowled out for 76, Fred Pierpoint claiming 4-23. Surrey passed that total easily and batted on to 149-6, Brian Wix making 60no. The Sussex side included Stuart Surridge – the man who would lead Surrey to five successive Championship titles in 1950s but this time was just making up the numbers after a late drop out.
After that light workout, Surrey took on an Australian Services XI which had been attracting large crowds, led by Lindsay Hassett and including all-rounder Keith Miller. The action switched to Leyland Motors Ground in Kingston, Surrey strengthened by the return of Test players Laurie Fishlock, Freddie Brown and Alf Gover.
Rain made an especially unwelcome visit on the first day, Hassett’s men finishing 40-2 and then being rolled for 90 the following day with leg-spinner Brown – who had recently been a PoW, imprisoned since 1942 after being captured at Tobruk – claiming 4-17.
Pre-war favourite Tom Barling’s 51 ensured the hosts gained a modest lead of 22 before paceman Gover (3-30) and Brown’s 4-16 despatched them again for 73 despite Bob Cristofani’s 36.
Batting remained hazardous throughout and despite needing only 51 to win, Surrey were indebted to Stan Squires (23) for limping over the line by three wickets.
There was time for one more match, taking on Northamptonshire at Hastings where left-hander Fishlock made 53 out of 145-8dec only for see Dennis Brookes make 58 to secure victory by five wickets for his side.
It mattered little after all that had gone before. Surrey were back on the field and The Oval was gradually being returned to being a cricket ground once again.
