Gubby Under Pressure

At the end of the match Allen made the speech which he considered one of his best. To the outsider, though, it seems to swing dangerously close to finding excuses for Bradman’s victory and emphasises the element played by luck in the result. Swanton reports that Allen said, ‘If I were in Bradman’s position and had his ability, I should be very glad to be standing here. I make no bones about it. I am a very disappointed man. Australia owes a great deal to a captain who has shown magnificent form, first with the bat and then with that infernal coin. Bradman says that none of the English team has complained about our luck in this game. I am not complaining, but I think you will agree that we shall not go down in history as the luckiest team ever to tour Australia. Australia played wonderful cricket and fought out of very difficult positions. I’ll only say that though we lost we live to fight again. This is probably my last appearance at Melbourne. It has been a sad one for me, but never mind.’ Three days after the Test ended, Allen still believed the fates had been against him, but Australia were marginally the better side anyway. Perhaps he was having second thoughts about his flops and failures: ‘I was terribly disappointed about the result, but I know we had very little chance after the first day. I shall always think that fate dealt me a wickedly cruel blow when I lost the last three tosses in a row, two of which meant the match without the option. I think the Australians were just the better side, as soon as Bradman struck form, especially on the easy-paced wickets which are prepared for Test matches nowadays. They kill fast bowlers and only the spin bowlers which England seem quite unable to produce have any chance at all on them.’ Statistics confirmed Allen’s assessment: the Australians had taken 51 wickets in the series with leg-breaks, chinamen and googlies, while Verity, Sims and Robins had managed only 17 between them. Under Allen’s guidance England relied on pace and Voce, Farnes and Allen bowled three times as many overs as their Australian counterparts. 25 At Benalla: 5 and 6 March, 1937. Not first-class. MCC 344 [W.R.Hammond 53, L.B.Fishlock 104, W.Voce 53*, H.Kneebone 4-63] and 118-6: Victorian Country XII 147-8d [A.Davidson 52]. Match drawn. Twelve a side match . 26 At Sydney [University Oval]: 8 and 9 March. Not first-class. MCC 212-9d [W.R.Hammond 103]: Combined Universities 168-7 [A.Chapman 57]. Match drawn. Rain curtailed play on both days. There were two more minor fixtures to fulfil before the team could sail off to New Zealand. Allen played in both of them, putting himself last in the batting order and bowling just a handful of overs. Allen batted at No.12 in the first match, perhaps for the only time in his career. New Zealand, Hollywood and home 27 At Christchurch: 19, 20 and 22 March, 1937. ¹ MCC 217 [R.E.S.Wyatt 63] and 250-8 [R.E.S.Wyatt 100, T.S.Worthington 79]: Canterbury and Otago 157. Match drawn. Rain prevented play on the third day. Arriving in New Zealand on 17 March, MCC were scheduled to stay for three weeks and play three first-class matches. Still catching up on his rest, although The cricket 60