Gubby Under Pressure

Australians, Allen would not have been happy to see someone entrenched as England captain, just in case Allen decided to resume playing again and wanted the job back for himself. Robins could have been easily convinced that he should step aside in Allen’s favour, someone else would have been less accommodating. In the event, any attempts by Allen to keep the door open for his return to the captaincy against the Australians in 1938 proved pointless. Following offers of lucrative business opportunities, Hammond had been able to switch from professional to amateur that summer and, despite Allen making a bright start to the season and apparently being available to play on a regular basis, Warner upset Allen by choosing Hammond as captain of the ‘England’ side for a Test trial in May, relegating Allen to captain of ‘The Rest’. Allen withdrew in a huff, claiming injury, and did not play again until July by which time Hammond was clearly established as England captain for years to come. Swanton’s final attempt to sweep away any thoughts that benevolent old Gubby had been less than kind in the report of his players abilities, was to include Allen’s general compliment for them all as a group: ‘To each member of the team, I ammost grateful for his loyalty and support. In my opinion every one of them would be a definite asset to any future touring team.’ But Allen was careful to make his support conditional by adding, ‘provided his cricket ability warranted his selection.’ Talking to Meredith fifty years later, Allen gave the impression that at least some memories of his fellow tourists were affectionate. Hedley Verity was ‘a splendid chap, knowledgeable too, pretty damn knowledgeable’; Leslie Ames ‘was a pretty damn good wicket-keeper’; Ken Farnes was considered ‘quietish. He got on pretty well. One or two didn’t like him before the tour’; Bill Voce ‘bowled magnificently until he started having trouble with his back’; and, considering how little he had employed him, Allen was surprisingly complimentary about Jim Sims by insisting ‘Jim was a bloody good leg-spinner; no, a world-beater’. Then a few criticisms began to creep in starting with Hardstaff who ‘didn’t do much’; Barnett who was ‘a fine stroke player but wrapped up in himself’; and Hammond who was remembered for his self-centredness, ‘not a characteristic of a great batsman’. Mercifully, Allen remained silent on his little band of flops and failures, Fishlock, Fagg et al . When Meredith asked who had been his greatest helpers, Allen had paused for thought, going back in his mind, no doubt, to those difficult first weeks after arriving in Australia in 1936. Meredith picked up on Allen’s hesitation and wrote: ‘The captaincy, it seemed, had been a lonely job’ before Allen gave his limited list: ‘I had two or three quite intelligent chaps. Robbie. Robbie was intelligent, when he was paying attention. Bob Wyatt, of course. Maurice Leyland.’ Some views on Allen’s captaincy Allen was enormously admired by all Australians for his valiant efforts to lead an obviously weaker team than their own to victory in the Test match series. Indeed, Pollock sensed this national response when he wrote: ‘I do believe that The assessment 67