he was largely unsuccessful, taking no wickets and making little impact as a batsman. In addition to his cricket prowess, Robins was a competent Association footballer, who played for Cambridge in each of his years at the university, being captain of the side in 1927. A right-winger, he also played football for the Corinthians, a prominent amateur team, and later represented the professional side, Nottingham Forest, in two Football League matches, each on Christmas Day, 1929 and 1930. Middlesex Robins's career with Middlesex extended from 1925 to 1951. After leaving Cambridge, he played his first full season for the county in 1929, scoring 1,134 runs and taking 162 wickets, thus performing the "cricketer's double" – the only time in his career that he achieved this feat although, as Wisden records, he came near to repeating it on several occasions. Robins's positive batting, with the emphasis on attack, combined with his inventive bowling, made him a popular favourite with crowds. His highest score for the county was 140, against Cambridge University in 1930, and his best bowling return was 8 wickets for 69, against Gloucestershire in 1929. He twice performed hat-tricks: first against Leicestershire in 1929, and again against Somerset in 1937. He was also recognised as a brilliant fieldsman, often in the covers but equally, in the deep field. Robins was one of Wisdens five "Cricketers of the Year" in 1930. In its citation, Wisden described him as "a remarkable young cricketer of whom the best has quite possibly not yet been seen". In 1935 he assumed the captaincy of the county and, according to his Wisden obituarist, "transformed a hitherto drab Middlesex side". The cricket historian Alan Gibson describes how he "galvanised" the team. For the first time since the early 1920s, Middlesex became serious contenders for the County Championship, finishing third in 1935, and as runners-up in each of the next three seasons, with a particularly close finish behind Yorkshire in 1937. Robins relinquished the captaincy at the end of the 1938 season, but resumed it in 1946 and 1947, after the Second World War, and in 1947 finally led Middlesex to the championship title. He took charge of the county again in 1950, after which, following a single appearance in 1951, he left the first-class county game. This was not quite the end of his Middlesex cricket; in 1952 and 1953 he played fairly regularly for the