Gubby Under Pressure

Poor old Howard hardly seems to have got a look in, as none of the contents of his speeches appear to have been worth reporting. Whenever he stood up to contribute his share to the back-slapping and general bonhomie that characterised the social occasions, it must have been a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show, quite literally in some cases, as far as his hosts were concerned. Despite Allen’s disapproval of the actual number of speeches he himself was expected to make, he could be justifiably pleased with the way he handled them and entitled to brag a little as he was about to leave Australia: ‘I think I have developed into quite a good speaker. I am amazed as the idea used to simply terrify me. Now I never ever make a note until I go into the room and don’t turn a hair. I think probably my impromptu ones have been the best, such as the one at the close of the Tests.’ In sickness and in health Allen’s letters sometimes read like dispatches from the battle front, as the walking wounded were being sidelined out of action. He had the bad luck to lose the services of almost half of his squad of players at different times during the tour, all suffering from a variety of injuries. On two occasions, at Geelong and Canberra, he even had to call upon the rusty services of Howard, the manager, in order to field a full team of eleven players. It could have been worse, as the trouble started three weeks before they even reached Australia. Allen wrote from the Orion : ‘I don’t know what sort of story the press have made out of Maurice Leyland’s illness. I tried to make it sound only fairly bad, but I am afraid, between you and me and the door post, he will not be fit to play for about four or five weeks.’ Ten days later Leyland’s kidney problem was causing less concern: ‘Maurice Leyland is much better and I hope will be fit to play about the end of October’. And then two days before docking at Fremantle, Allen was relieved to report: ‘Maurice Leyland is better, and will probably be able to practice at Perth and play at Adelaide. He has made far better recovery than the doctor thought and I only hope all goes well as he is invaluable to the Test side.’ But something far more detrimental to the side’s prospects was about to happen during the first match at Perth: ‘Won match today, but had two terrible disasters. Duckworth dislocated finger on left and Robbie doing same to top joint of most important finger for bowling on right hand. Former out of cricket probably two weeks, latter three to four weeks’. Despite the team now being on dry land and the pleasures of a sea cruise behind them, it seems that Robins had been unable to resist the temptation to continue in his self-appointed role of prankster and clown. Allen censoriously reported that ‘Robbie fracturing his most important finger on his right hand, when fooling about at fielding practice, is a disaster, as I don’t believe it will be well enough for him to spin the ball before Brisbane.’ Then came another bombshell. ‘Duckworth put a finger out the same way during the match and that would not have been a very serious matter as he will be able to play in two or three weeks, but the same evening Ames came and told me he was anxious about his back. These three bits of news all within a few hours was not much fun and the moment Ames mentioned his back I was Managing the show 19