Gubby Under Pressure

could deputise whichever of the two he considered appropriate for the match in question. And then give the other his opportunity in a later match, thereby keeping the peace between them. But there is something about the timing of the decision of 9 August that suggests the selection of Holmes only a few days before had made Allen nervous. Holmes had been captain of the MCC party of mainly young cricketers of promise that had visited Australia and New Zealand in a non-Test match tour the previous winter. Holmes had conducted himself well in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in a tour intended to cultivate the restoration of the old relationships and prepare the ground for the full tour in 1936/37. He had been so successful he could very easily have been chosen as captain ahead of Allen in 1936. But unlike Allen, he did not have Warner vigorously promoting his case and was only selected for his merits as a batsman. It is also more than likely that Allen, with Warner’s approval, had half promised Robins the vice-captaincy before he knew that Holmes would be invited to join the party. If so, that conspiracy would very likely have been unattractive to the other selectors who would have seen Holmes as a far more suitable choice, bearing in mind he had also filled that position under Wyatt in the tour of the West Indies in 1934/35. Holmes later wrote that the experience ‘had been invaluable, and I had learnt much about the captaincy of a touring team, which is a very different affair to captaining England at home, and a far more responsible job. I had also learnt something of the social aspect of a touring team and just a little about the necessary and arduous duty of speechmaking.’ All of this knowledge had proved a great benefit to Holmes when he took MCC’s team to Australia the following winter, and was conspicuously absent from the curriculum vitae of both Allen and Robins. Apart from having to disappoint his friend, did Allen see the appointment of Holmes as vice-captain as something that could undermine his own authority? And jealous of the social contacts that must have been made twelve months before, was Allen suspicious Holmes might actually appear to be his equal on occasions, or even outshine him? By not naming either Robins or Holmes as vice-captain, but giving Allen the exclusive power to appoint a deputy as and when he thought fit, made it quite clear who was in charge. But Allen need not have worried. Unknown to him or the selectors, Holmes was about to decline the invitation to join the touring party. His father was suffering from ill-health and Holmes felt that, as the eldest son, he should be close at hand that winter. Although, as Alan Gibson suggests in The Cricket Captains of England , if Holmes had been offered the captaincy earlier in the season instead of Allen, ‘he and his father might have agreed that he should take it.’ Holmes would not have been aware of the sub-Committee decision of 9 August and may well have expected that all his hard and productive work in Australia, followed by a complete season as captain of Surrey, was at least going to be recognised by the position as Allen’s vice-captain. Even so, after a discussion with his father, Holmes wrote to the selectors twenty-four hours after receiving the invitation to inform them that he would not be able to tour. Sparing his father and family any embarrassment he gave the excuse as ‘business reasons’. Preparing for the tour 13