LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

114 Tour Manager and Law 26 When Robbie arrived in Georgetown he heard that Peter May’s wife had not returned to England as arranged but had re-joined her husband. Bearing in mind the criticism that May had received in Australia the previous winter for spending too much time with his then fiancée and too little with the team, Robbie expressed his surprise at the decision and asked him to think again. Other players’ wives and fiancées had returned to England and it was thought that May should, for the last month of the tour, devote all his time and energies to the team. May refused to reconsider and Robbie had no powers to overrule him. Later that same day, May asked Robbie to come back and see him and expressed his concern at Robbie’s attitude. Robbie had to emphasise that his responsibility lay with the interests of the team as a whole and during their argument, May went on to reveal that there was a special reason why he needed Virginia with him at that time. He was suffering discomfort and some bleeding from an internal abscess for which he had been operated on the previous July, and had secretly received attention from doctors in both Port-of-Spain and Kingston. Robbie was astounded that this information had been kept from him. It was obvious that, with Virginia due to arrive in a couple of days, the press would have another field-day. So Robbie decided that, to avoid speculation, the facts should be revealed. He took May to a doctor for an examination and on the last day of the match with British Guiana, went into the press box with a written statement. It said that, owing to the reopening of his operation wound, May had been advised by his doctor to rest for at least fourteen days, and that it was hoped that he would be fit for the Fifth Test. Robbie immediately contacted Lord’s to ask for MCC permission to arrange for Jim Parks, who was coaching in Trinidad, to join the squad but as there was not another room available in the team’s hotel, Robbie was invited to stay with Peter Gibbings, managing director of a major local sugar and rum company. Just before Robbie transferred accommodation, Gibbings’ wife had to leave on a trip to England and so Ian Peebles, who was covering the tour for the Sunday Times , was invited to join them. Peebles recalled the stay with some affection: ‘We had a glorious ten days looked after by Bacchus, Peter’s cricket-loving factotum, butler, and Jeeves. He was delighted to have Walter in the house, and countered the fearsome threats of what England was going to do to his side with spirited forecasts of sweeping victory.’ These events meant that Colin Cowdrey had to step up to take over the captaincy and being one match in front his approach was very clear: ‘I had no intention of gambling away the chips Peter May had fought so courageously to win.’ Sooner or later, this was bound to bring him into direct confrontation with Robbie and the tension between captain and manager deepened during the Fourth Test which dragged on after six days to another draw, thanks to slow batting by the West Indies and very defensive tactics on the part of Cowdrey. Brian Statham had been taking phone calls every day from his wife regarding his son, who was in hospital in Manchester. On the final afternoon Statham asked if he could leave and Robbie arranged for him to fly back home the next day. There was more bad news when Robbie was informed that May’s wound had refused