ROBIN JACKMAN – 1945-2020

Club records show that in 1962 a 16 year old Robin was playing regularly for the Byfleet Falcons, the youth section of Byfleet CC.  Robin also made 10 senior appearances that season scoring 121 runs & taking 15 wickets.  He was by this time on the radar at the countyu club, making several appearances for Surrey Young Amateurs.  In 1963 his all round ability blossomed at Byfleet and he was rewarded at the end of the season with both the batting and bowling trophies, having scored 588 runs and taken 57 wickets in his 25 club appearances.  1964 saw Robin play numerous games for the County Second Team but still managed 21 Byfleet appearances and again received the batting trophy.  On this occasion he was pipped to the bowling award despite his 53 wickets at 15.22 runs each. In one of his best games for Surrey 2nds he took 6-43 against Warwickshire at Guildford.  1965 saw his status at Surrey grow and his Byfleet appearances were severely limited and the same applied in 1966 when Robin made his first class debut for Surrey.  It didn’t stop him returning to Byfleet for the end of season match against the President’s XI and a late burst of 5-7 saw the Club to victory!  Despite just 9 matches in 1967 Robin again topped the bowling averages with 34 wickets at just 6.05 runs apiece.  First class commitments meant appearances for the club were now very sporadic but contact with the Club was maintained throughout Robin’s most productive county and international years.  In 1981, when Robin was granted a benefit season with Surrey, as part of the celebrations Byfleet arranged a benefit match against Courage Old England XI.  It was indicative of the respect he had earned that legends like Fred Trueman, John Edrich, John Murray, Godfrey Evans, John Jameson and John Lever came to Grace Byfleet’s ground in a tribute to Robin’s services to cricket.

Despite emigrating to South Africa Robin still maintained his connection to Byfleet as the photograph taken shows when he met up with 3 former Byfleet Overseas players Brent Kay, Craig Van Dyk and Brian Barnard.