Gubby Under Pressure

selection had been largely dictated by the selectors’ belief, with encouragement from Warner, that he was the right man to repair the damage done to the England-Australia cricket relationship. This was bound to involve much more than just turning up for the cricket matches and making an occasional speech. Did Allen really think that, as long as his bowlers weren’t bowling ‘bodyline’, or any other form of ‘leg-theory’, nothing else mattered and his hosts would be satisfied? Harris knew what was expected from an MCC captain in Australia: ‘He becomes one of the lions of society out there and cannot avoid, without discourtesy, numerous social obligations. He is a social ambassador as well as a cricket opponent.’ Surely Allen had been warned, either by MCC or British officials on the ground in Australia, to expect an enthusiastic welcome? When the MCC Committee sternly rejected the new Law proposal drawn up by the Australian Board of Control in 1933, they also drew attention to barracking in the 1932/33 tour as being ‘thoroughly objectionable’, indicating a ‘serious lack of consideration’ for the players. In 1936, there appears to have been a collective wish by all Australians to make amends for their previous behaviour, and everyone wanted to get in on the act by letting Allen and his men know personally how pleased they were to see them. Of course, the fact that the captain was not Jardine this time, made it a lot easier. With all this in mind, it is strange to learn from his letters just how much Allen privately resented the demands being made upon him. It is also interesting to note how Swanton in his biography played down this reaction, with only a couple of brief quotes from Allen’s gripes and grumbles. In fact, in a couple of his letters Allen lets slip the real reasons for his ungenerous response to the Australian desires to fill every minute of his time off the cricket field. He was annoyed that it prevented him from having the same amount of free time for socialising with his own family and friends as he had enjoyed four years before. Swanton ignores this admission. Whether willingly or unwillingly, Allen undoubtedly sacrificed many hours and days of his time in the interest of good public relations. And he had to tread a very fine line between firm refusal and rudeness, whenever it just wasn’t physically possible for him to do so. As far as I am aware, there were no incidents in which any of his hosts were ever upset by his attitude or felt slighted by being ignored. It is also quite remarkable that, apart from the obvious physical effects from the strain of performing public duties before and sometimes during matches, the demands made upon him never seem to have affected his judgment as captain when leading the team in pursuit of the Ashes. But the whole experience seemed to have soured his opinion of Australians in general. When Allen was recovering from the tour during a holiday in Hollywood shortly afterwards, he gave the famous British author P.G.Wodehouse the impression that the Australian hosts had taken advantage of his generosity. Rather than continuously interrupt Allen’s view of the events on the cricket fields with his obsessive complaints about the pressures he was being forced to endure off them, I think it preferable to hear those complaints separately in order to clear them out of the way. And I apologise in advance for the repetition Managing the show 23