The Summer Field

175 a woman? – we meet stereotypically-named caricatures. A lesser author, however, would not have put such apt words in his stereotypes’ mouths (‘the MCC means nowt in these parts’, says Simeon Arkwright, standing by Bobbie). Charles Hatton, a contributor to The Cricketer , evidently knew English cricket and journalism, and could use light fiction to tell unsentimental truths. Ted Spencer recalls publicity did him ‘more harm than good’ in 1936 when newspapers urged he should play for England; his county ‘decided I was getting too big for my boots’. (Once common phrases, now quaint, are one of the book’s charms.) Tony Hinton resigns from the Monitor after the chairman of MCC rings the newspaper’s owner who orders the editor to drop Bobbie’s story. MCC asks Hinton to resign as a member. Hinton sticks up, albeit jokingly, for equal rights for women when Marling, a fellow cricket reporter, mutters: ‘Women cricketers? What next? Before we can turn round we’ll find ‘em in the Press box.’ Hinton replies: ‘A little competition never does any harm.’ If Bobbie, or any woman, takes a man’s place in a man’s eleven, the other ten will wonder; am I next? In the novel, as in life, cricket is only mirroring society. As Hinton says to Ted Spencer: ‘We’re living in a topsy-turvy modern civilisation,’ topsy- turvy being another wonderfully dated word, ‘and anything can happen.’ The wartime state ordered women into uniform; a pro’ had captained England. Maiden Over, to its credit, airs both sides, reform and tradition. Men are torn. Ted Spencer cannot bring himself to wish for his daughter to play for England (the men’s team; the women’s game never crosses his mind). That would be not change but ‘revolution’. England since 1955 has seen many revolutions. A 21 st century reader can enjoy Maiden Over in a way its author cannot have imagined; as a clue to long-gone everyday life. Tony Hinton as a captain tosses with a half- sovereign. He types his resignation letter on a typewriter and puts on a hat to leave the office for the Oval. Ted Spencer tells his 19-year-old daughter, ‘You’re a bit on the young side for courtin’’. After Derek sees Bobbie play in Yorkshire, she apologises that she only has her white flannels to wear to dinner, not a dress. As Bobbie adds, a woman in trousers would stick out in a place like Bedlington. ‘Well, women seem to be wearing trousers pretty frequently since the war,’ Derek says. The daringly short skirt on the dust cover, then, was inaccurate. Tradition and change can walk the sports field at the same time. A woman showing her slender legs in a skirt might unsettle a man; a woman dressing the same as a man, even more. Women