Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

86 Triumphant in South Africa that Titmus is seen at his best. Allen, his partner, gnawed away at the batsmen’s leg and middle stumps. He was more predictable, perhaps, than Titmus, but no less shrewd.’ England bowled 118 overs, the 65 delivered by Titmus and Allen costing only 97 runs. Next day the follow-on was enforced shortly after lunch and the spinners were soon striving for their next breakthrough. Bob Barber recalls that a Christmas visitor to South Africa had been Gubby Allen, who had come out with that year’s MCC President, R.H. Twining. With a finger in every cricketing pie, Allen could not resist offering his advice, as Barber relates: ‘The twelfth man comes out with the drinks. On the tray was a note from Gubby to Mike – “Why don’t you change the bowling?” Mike asked the umpire for a pencil, turned the piece of paper over and wrote, which was unheard of with somebody like Gubby, “Why don’t you get stuffed?”’ To Barber it is a vivid recollection to which he would testify in court, but to Mike it has become a figment of Barber’s fertile imagination. ‘I don’t want to own up to that one,’ he says. ‘Someone else might have written it in my name. That kind of thing happened!’ Mike ponders further: ‘I can’t even remember Gubby being out there. Could it have been a leg-pull?’ The other Allen, David, now bowled one of his best spells in Test cricket. By the close he had three of the four wickets that fell. Still 68 behind, South Africa faced a second defeat; but Graeme Pollock, for the first time that winter, had not succumbed to the England spinners. Next day over two hours were lost to rain and, though Pollock soon fell to Allen, a fine century by Bland made sure of the draw. To the delight of a capacity crowd for the New Year Test at Cape Town, Goddard won the toss for South Africa, and soon the pattern of the match mirrored what had happened in Johannesburg, the home side now posting an imposing score. Laboured batting, notably by Pithey, slowed their progress on an opening day made memorable for a bat-pad catch off Titmus for which Barlow declined to walk. Affronted by the batsman’s disregard for the conventions of the day, the team refrained from applauding his century. Later on there was a sequel when Titmus was instructed to apologise. David Allen recalls a reluctant Titmus approaching Barlow at a subsequent social function. ‘Did your manager tell you to apologise?’ the South African asked. When Titmus admitted that this was so, Barlow’s response was curt. ‘Well I wouldn’t have done it’, he replied, with which he walked away.