Gubby Under Pressure

Chapter Two Preparing for the tour Allen’s promotion Under the captaincy of Bob Wyatt, England lost the Ashes in 1934, lost 2-1 in the West Indies the following winter, and then lost 2-1 at home to South Africa in 1935. The selectors decided it was time to look at alternatives. There were several county captains in contention to lead England against India in a three Test series in 1936, which, subject to performance, could be followed by selection for MCC’s tour of Australia in the winter. Brian Sellers of Yorkshire, Walter Robins of Middlesex, Claude Ashton of Essex, and Errol Holmes of Surrey were all under consideration. There was strong support for Holmes, who had led an MCC team of up-and-coming players on a short goodwill tour of Australia and New Zealand the previous winter, playing no Test matches but doing well against all the state sides and an Australian XI. Holmes clearly had ambitions for the position at that stage and wrote in his autobiography Flannelled Foolishness : ‘I was, by the start of the 1936 season, a pretty experienced cricketer, having captained Surrey for the two previous seasons, and having taken part in two tours, one to the West Indies and the other to Australia and New Zealand. I was 31, very fit and strong, and had not a care in the world. Many people thought that I would be chosen to captain the next MCC team to Australia . . . ’ But, with PlumWarner now back on the Selection Committee after a three year break, while the ‘bodyline’ problems were resolved, it was always odds-on that Allen would get the nod, as Holmes soon realised: ‘I was not surprised when Gubby Allen was picked as captain in the first Test Match against India, and I was omitted from the side altogether. I felt that this was the “writing on the wall” and that, provided he did reasonably well, Gubby would be invited to take the side to Australia.’ After leading England to victory against India at Lord’s in the First Test that June, and taking ten wickets as a right-arm fast bowler, it seemed only a matter of time before the reign of Allen would be extended through the coming winter. No one could really argue that Allen was not a suitable choice for a public relations exercise in Australia and eminently qualified to represent a penitent MCC seeking to heal the wounds caused by ‘bodyline’. Despite his disappointment, even Holmes magnanimously supported the appointment: ‘I always felt, in my heart, that G.O.Allen would be the better choice.’ This opinion was not shared by L.V.Manning in the Daily Mail, who greeted the news with the comment that it was a ‘big blunder to make him captain, especially as Gubby is hyper-sensitive to criticism and is certain to make hard labour of his responsibilities.’ 8