Gubby Under Pressure

loving the trip and am so fond of all the side that I don’t mind how much I have to do for them’; and again, ‘I am really fond of them all. I think it is because of that that I have been able to keep going’; and yet again, ‘I am so fond of all this side.’ To put it plainly, did Allen take his responsibilities far too seriously? Or did he genuinely believe that he was the only person in the touring party capable of carrying out the captaincy and managerial tasks in the way he believed they should be? His reluctance to let go of the reins and actually instruct someone else to step in and take over temporarily, giving him more free time to spend with family and friends at the risk of upsetting Australian officials, appears to have been prompted by a desperate desire to be seen doing the ‘right thing’ at all costs. Was it fear of failure to perform as an MCC captain was supposed to perform, and the repercussions this might have had back at Lord’s, that drove him on to even greater solo efforts as leader, ignoring the risks to his physical and mental health? But if Allen thought he had had pressures before the New Year, when good luck with the toss and the weather in the first two Test matches had gone spectacularly England’s way, he was now about to be the victim of a complete swing in fortune. At the end of the Third Test in Melbourne he wrote home: ‘I am very tired having struggled through a horribly unlucky Test match and had two late nights . . . I again need a rest badly.’ But not everything was going badly, as he then admits, ‘I have had a lot of fun down here and like Melbourne much more that I did on the last trip, as I think they know how to enjoy themselves.’ His next letter was after he arrived in Tasmania, more than a week later, during which he had enjoyed a series of private parties, dinners and lunches. And yet in the first paragraph he returns to his old grumbles again: ‘There is no doubt that being captain of a touring team out here is pretty hard work and I am not surprised that so many of the captains since the war have failed as cricketers. I have had to cut out almost all private entertainment in the evenings just before and during big matches as I either have to work or need sleep desperately badly in order to be in a fit condition to do myself justice.’ One of the reasons for this sudden return to the doom and gloom of a captain’s life was the need to answer letters. ‘I have so many boring letters to write to stupid people who write to say how glad they are that we have won a Test match or to give me some unwanted advice. I cleared up such letters after the Test match and just counted up 18 more to be answered now.’ Many of these letters would surely have been from people offering encouragement and support: perhaps we should see Allen’s sharp criticism of them as a measure of his stress. Allen had been able to extend his stay over in Melbourne for an extra two days by dropping out of the first match in Tasmania and flying over later. MCC had made it quite clear that none of the team was to take advantage of the new, potentially dangerous, fashion for flying between cities in aeroplanes. But as luck would have it, the newMCC president, Lord Somers, was in Melbourne at the same time as Allen. ‘I have also seen a bit of Lord Somers and persuaded him that it was much better for me to fly over here in the Douglas air liner, as it Managing the show 28