Lives in Cricket No 28 - Keith Carmody

87 a scheduled tour of Australia both ‘unreasonable and drastic’. Confronting manager Johnson in the Madras dressing-room, the players demanded he tell the Board of Control of their strong objection to playing in Perth on Christmas Day and to games in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane scheduled for four days, rather than three. They’d already been playing almost continuously for eight months; the Indian tour had been ‘more than strenuous’; and if it was followed by ‘an equally laborious Australian tour, their cricket will suffer as well as their health’. They felt certain ‘the Australian Board of Control has not fully realised just how much strenuous cricket has been played, with very little chance of relaxation away from the game.’ Sismey’s description of the Indian tour didn’t even mention the innings victory over Ceylon in Colombo on the journey home, a match in which he played but Carmody didn’t. But he expressed outrage about events in Perth when the players arrived in two groups on 19 and 20 December to be met by representatives of the Board of Control, the Western Australian Cricket Association [WACA] and Bert Oldfield, now designated liaison officer for the The Victory ‘Tests’ and the Long Road Home Garlanded but weary. The Australian Services side at Bombay in November 1945. Back row (l to r): R.S.Whitington, K.O.Johnson (manager), D.R.Cristofani. J.Pettiford, C.F.T.Price, A.W.Roper, A.L.Hassett (capt), J.G.Mallyon, E.A.Williams, K.R.Miller, C.G.Pepper. Front row: R.S.Ellis, D.K.Carmody, C.D.Bremner (wk), F.B.Moran, S.G.Sismey (wk), L.W.Maddison. (R.M.Stanford is on the left of this row, partly obscured.) The side lost one and drew two of its ‘Tests’ in India.