Gubby Under Pressure

Chapter Four The cricket Build-up to the Tests It is with a big sigh of relief that I can now turn to the affairs of bat and ball. Primarily, the tour of 1936/37 featured an epic battle for the Ashes fought within the great stadiums of Australia for the entertainment of almost a million spectators over twenty-five days of exciting cricket. The pendulum of supremacy between the two teams swung first one way and then the other, sometimes changing several times during one Test match. Pre-series forecasts of Australia’s superiority over a weak England side proved to be totally inaccurate, as Allen drove his players on to reach heights of performance originally assumed beyond them. Allen, as captain, never spared himself, setting examples on the field that he hoped would be inspirational. It has to be admitted that luck played an important role at vital moments, particularly with the weather, and this helped both Allen and Bradman in equal measure. But nothing should be taken away from the courageous efforts of the England team to match a basically better Australian team. Not that Allen always saw it that way, and his letters frequently demonstrate his frustrations and disappointment with the performance of certain players who failed to live up to his expectations. Before all this could happen, the MCC team had three specific problems of selection to be settled. First, they had to find a pair of opening batsmen who could be relied upon to give England a solid start to every innings. The choice had to be made from three candidates, Wyatt, Fagg and Barnett, with Worthington in reserve. Secondly, the bowling attack looked even more unsettled. Allen was looking for either two strike bowlers from Voce, Farnes or Copson, with himself as support, or just one to join him for the opening attack. Hammond could always be expected to make his contribution with accurate medium pace, and that left the spin to come from Verity, Sims or Robins, or a combination of two out of the three. Finally, although the top and middle batting order was easier to solve, there was still uncertainty. Barring injury or an extraordinary loss of form, Hammond and Leyland were first choice at No.3 and No.4, leaving one place for contention between Hardstaff, Fishlock and either Wyatt or Barnett depending on who had been chosen for the opening partnership. Ames would come in at No.6, with Allen in his preferred position at No.7. Much of this uncertainty was going to continue for several more weeks than Allen had hoped when the injuries to Robins and Wyatt robbed him of their services almost immediately. At least it gave Allen the opportunity to ring the changes in selection, and check out the strengths and weaknesses of players 34