Gubby Under Pressure

Worthington, Hardstaff, Fagg and Copson have done practically nothing and Wyatt and Duckworth have played in only two matches each. Robbie also has done next to nothing. It all goes to prove what I have said all along, the Australian side with Bradman and O’Reilly in their present form are a bad side and if we could play at all we should win easily.’ By now Allen’s relationship with Robins had certainly cooled and, for the rest of the tour, Allen continued to find fault with his erstwhile friend. Among the collection of Allen letters there is a letter from Robins to Allen’s father Sir Walter, surprisingly written on Christmas Eve, when Robins might have been expected to be preparing for the celebrations to come, rather than writing letters. Was this an attempt by Robins to get back into his captain’s good books? Certainly its gushing contents are full of praise for Allen, guaranteed to make Sir Walter and Lady Allen proud of their son’s achievements. Or had Robins, four years younger than Allen, been instructed to write his letter before being allowed to start enjoying the season festivities, as a penance for causing so much anxiety, rather like a head boy at a public school giving his ‘fag’ some lines to write? Whatever the reason, the letter demonstrates some of the euphoria within the MCC party. ‘It’s been marvellous: of course we’ve been lucky but goodness they’ve been gutless! We may lose the next three Tests, but we have blended ourselves into a team and Gubby has been magnificent. The crowd have been fair but they’re beginning to squeak a bit now - maybe they will cheer up again should they happen to win the Melbourne Test. Personally I don’t think I really mind what happens now - of course to win the rubber would be marvellous - but we are two up (nearly dormy) and that’s two more than 75% of the Australian cricketing public thought we would be!’ 13 At Newcastle: 26 and 28 December, 1936. Not first-class. New South Wales Country XI 188-4d [R.Beattie 124*]: MCC 178-4 [A.E.Fagg 67]. Match drawn. Rain curtailed play on both days. MCC only had three days to celebrate Christmas and their Test successes, before they started a two day game at Newcastle on Boxing Day. Allen decided to go with them and play, rather than take a break, unwilling perhaps to pass the reins to Robins who remained out of favour. But Allen’s interest in the team’s welfare did not stretch to sharing inferior accommodation with them. ‘I had one look at the hotel and moved into this Club which is extremely good and I have been well looked after. The team had a Christmas lunch which went with a great swing and they all seem happy. I am sorry for a lot of them, as they have not so far had much chance to recover from a bad start as we have had three Test matches so close on top of one another. However we are off to Tasmania, as soon as the Melbourne match is finished and they shall all get a chance there.’ Third Test calamity 14 Melbourne: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 January, 1937. Third Test Match. ¹ Australia 200-9d [S.J.McCabe 63] and 564 [J.H.W.Fingleton 136, D.G.Bradman 270]: England 76-9d [M.W.Sievers 5-21] and 323 [M.Leyland 111*, R.W.V.Robins 61, L.O.Fleetwood-Smith 5-124]. Australia won by 365 runs. Fingleton and Bradman added 346 runs for the sixth wicket in The cricket 49