Gubby Under Pressure

Contents Chapter One: The story of the Gubby Allen letters 5 Chapter Two: Preparing for the tour Allen’s promotion 8 Selection difficulties 9 A new manager 11 Vice-captain vacancy 12 Chapter Three: Managing the show Going it alone 15 Problems with the manager 16 Stand and deliver 18 In sickness and in health 19 All work and no play 22 Chapter Four: The cricket Build-up to the Tests 34 First Test and first blood to England 42 Second Test success 46 Third Test calamity 49 Time to recover in Tasmania 53 Fourth Test and victory thrown away 54 Preparation for the final Test 56 Final Test disappointment 58 New Zealand, Hollywood and home 60 Chapter Five: The assessment Allen’s assessment of previous English captains in Australia 63 A captain’s view of his players 66 Some views on Allen’s captaincy 67 Appendix One: The letters 70 Appendix Two: Some statistics 100 Acknowledgements 105 3