Gubby Under Pressure

Australia would not have minded (well, not very much) if he had snatched the Ashes.’ Cardus also found the Australians generous in their response and reported ‘though the Australian crowds expressed unashamed joy at their team’s recovery and victories, they were sorry for Allen [and] were as a whole as perplexed and saddened as Allen himself over the failures of Hardstaff, Fagg, Worthington, Fishlock and others’. Cardus made no final assessment of Allen’s leadership, but throughout his Test match reports found reasons to criticise some of his decisions, particularly bowling changes at crucial moments. However, such errors of judgment, or unexpected failures of some key players, were only minor details for Cardus, who believed the Ashes were won and lost by the clash of the titans, Bradman and Hammond. England’s premier batsman had scored 339 runs at an average of 84·75 in the first three Tests, and then 129 runs average 32·25 in the last two. Bradman, on the other hand had scored 133 runs, average 26·60 in the first five innings, and then 677 runs, average 169·20 in the next four. This was the deciding factor for Cardus, who relegated every other player, including Allen as bowler, batsman or captain, to mere supporting roles. One of those supporting players was Wyatt, who spoke from the experience of having led a weaker England team on numerous occasions, and could sympathise with his new captain: ‘With the limited material at his disposal Allen had captained the side magnificently both off and on the field.’ Of the other players under Allen’s command, Farnes summed up their approval: ‘No better skipper than Allen could have been appointed. He was full of zeal on the field and off it, and wore himself out in his tremendous and successful effort to re-establish the usual friendly nature of the cricket between the two countries.’ Bruce Harris, in the Evening Standard, was sure ‘Allen’s own men will remember him as a leader who was unflagging in looking after their interests and comfort, and even if he did not come home successful he established a reputation as a leader of men.’ These views were supported by The Times in a leading article: ‘Allen, himself Australian born, did more than prove himself an inspiring and astute captain; he increased good feeling wherever he went.’ For England supporters, ten thousand miles away with nothing more than a few seconds of black and white newsreel film passing across the silver screens of their local cinemas, the image of Allen was better conjured up by the words of William Pollock: ‘Poor Gubby! What a terrible trier he was all through - and how he did curse and swear and blind at himself when his hair got into his eyes and nothing would go right for him. If guts could have won back the Ashes they would have been Gubby’s.’ But like Cardus, Pollock also recognised the limitations of Allen’s intelligence as captain and brought his image down to earth by declaring: ‘You cannot honestly rank him among great captains - he is not an Archie MacLaren, a Percy Chapman, a Percy Fender or a Douglas Jardine’, before putting the whole matter of Allen’s captaincy into perspective by adding ‘but he was the rightest man for this particular job’. Indeed, it was a mission accomplished and no greater acknowledgement of Allen’s achievement could be recorded than that contained in the cable from Lord’s written by R.S.Rait-Kerr, MCC’s secretary, immediately after the Fifth The assessment 68