Lives in Cricket No 28 - Keith Carmody

77 The journalist’s doubts that the ‘Test’ would ‘carry with it any great interest’ dissolved ‘when the Manchester omnibuses marked “Cricket Match” carried hordes of spectators to Old Trafford and, with 28,000 people already in the ground, the gates were closed at noon.’ Those inside saw 335 runs scored, with England, 162 for five, closing in on the Australians’ 173 all out. Carmody, batting number three, made only seven, while Pettiford’s 28 was second only to 77 not out from ‘the great Miller’. By the end of the second day the Australians were struggling at three for 37 in reply to England’s 243 (Hutton 64 and Hammond 57). England’s victory by six wickets the next day was only part of the reason The Times correspondent replaced scepticism with euphoria: ‘this series of “Victory Matches” was rounded off with as good a game of cricket as the heart of man could throb for.’ With Carmody making only three, Hassett one and Miller four, Australia were eight for 120 when number nine Cristofani – who’d taken five for 55 in the England first innings – made a stirring 110 not out, with staunch defensive support from No.10 Graham Williams. * * * * * * * It was fitting that England’s victory had squared a series of great importance, whatever the quibbles advanced in England – and soon especially in Australia – about the standard of play. With total attendances of 370,000 – contributing mightily to the Red Cross and other charities – from five ‘Tests’ played with exemplary sportsmanship, 33 it had healed any lingering wounds from the bitterness of Anglo-Australian contests in the 1930s; provided distractions for the British public emerging from wartime trauma to face peacetime austerity; and confirmed cricket’s continuing relevance in the post-war world. Carmody’s contribution – 99 runs in six innings – was modest in a series that confirmed Hammond and Hutton as batsmen of the highest class, enhanced the reputation of Hassett and placed Miller on the threshold of greatness. Norman Preston, writing in the 1946 Wisden , pointed out that Carmody had joined his side 33 The only threat to good relations had occurred in an unusual incident, full of social and political cross-currents, when Keith captained the RAAF against South of England on 30 June 1945. Unfortunately there seem to be several versions of the event and it is not possible to report on it with any certainty. The bare facts are that Gubby Allen, the opposition captain, was given out by umpire A.J.B.Fowler after he had played the ball onto his stumps without dislodging the bails. Allen picked up the ball and threw it back to the bowler, A.W.Roper, who meanwhile had appealed. Fowler (who did not become a listed umpire until 1954) gave Allen out handled the ball and the crowd started to boo. In some versions, as he started to leave the playing area, either Roper or Carmody invited Allen to continue his innings but in E.W.Swanton’s version, published forty years later in his 1985 biography of Allen, no such invitation was made, apparently still to his subject’s annoyance. The Victory ‘Tests’ and the Long Road Home