Gubby Under Pressure

disappointment on the trip in many ways, but this is between you and me only, is Robbie. He is very difficult on occasions when he should be setting a good example and is now going through one of his spasms of saying he hates cricket, is no good at it, and wants to go home. It is essential that he plays in the Tests, but at the present moment he simply can’t bowl at all and looks as though he isn’t trying. He will never go on another tour, I know, and on the whole I think it is a good thing. I am very fond of him still and he amuses me a great deal, but he has done some unwise things and the pros don’t respect him any more. He thinks it is clever to defy authority and refuses to see that it is a hopeless view to take, especially on a tour.’ 18 At Adelaide: 22, 23, 25 and 26 January, 1937. ¹ MCC 301 [C.J.Barnett 78, R.E.S.Wyatt 53, C.V.Grimmett 4-77]: South Australia 194-4 [A.J.Ryan 71]: Match drawn. Rain prevented play on the third and fourth days. Once back in Adelaide, preparing for the Fourth Test, Allen was beginning to worry again. The match against South Australia, intended as a dress rehearsal for the Test and an opportunity to check if any players were running into form, was ruined by rain and not a ball was bowled on the last two days. At least Allen felt confident that his own batting was improving: ‘There is very little cricket news, except that Fishlock has now had a bone broken in his right hand and I don’t suppose will play again until we reach New Zealand. However, he still can’t bat and his breakdown will not mean the Ashes. I am beginning to get anxious about the Fourth Test, which will have begun by this time next week, not because I think anything has happened to lessen our chances, but just because I am so desperately keen to win. In fact two things have brightened our chances: Bradman has a slight strained leg and batted rottenly against us yesterday and Fleetwood-Smith looks like being left out because he is bowling so badly and is not properly fit. I know I am boasting, but I have played two really good innings my last two visits to the wickets and I am now really full of confidence in Australian wickets for the first time. Grimmett, who used to be my undoing so often, I now love to see come on and I have given him a lot of stick. Until this trip I have always feared leg-spin bowling and I wonder whether it is just in this country that I can now play it, or whether I shall be successful in England in my own small way.’ Fourth Test and victory thrown away 19 At Adelaide: 29 and 30 January, 1, 2, 3 and 4 February, 1937. Fourth Test Match. ¹ Australia 288 [S.J.McCabe 88, A.G.Chipperfield 57*] and 433 [D.G.Bradman 212, S.J.McCabe 55, W.R.Hammond 5-57]: England 330 [C.J.Barnett 129, L.E.G.Ames 52, L.O.Fleetwood-Smith 4-129, W.J.O’Reilly 4-51] and 243 [R.E.S.Wyatt 50, L.O.Fleetwood-Smith 6-110]. Australia won by 148 runs. Bradman’s 212 was his tenth double century in Test cricket. Allen did bring Farnes into the attack for the Fourth Test, although he did not decide until fifteen minutes before the start of play, and dropped Worthington and Sims so that he could recall Wyatt as well. This created another problem, as it meant that besides Barnett, there was no other recognised opening batsman because Allen preferred to keep Wyatt back to strengthen the middle order. The promotion of Verity to opener, a position he had filled before in similar The cricket 54