LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

124 Chairman of England Selectors The press now assembled at Lord’s in force, convinced that it was a straight fight between Sheppard and Dexter, both of Sussex. Sheppard scored 112 in the first innings and everyone was sure that this had swung the captaincy his way. From the windows of the press restaurant a number of journalists spotted Robbie walking back to the pavilion. Hoping that they would get advance notice that Sheppard was the man, they desperately tried to attract his attention by a series of long-range hand signals. Robbie seized the opportunity for one more piece of mischief and gave them the thumbs-up, fooling them into believing that they had been right all along and that he and his fellow selectors were going to choose the man the press were certain he had wanted from the start. They rushed back to their typewriters to compose their stories for the following morning with headlines proclaiming ‘Sheppard for Captain’. Later that day came the announcement to a stunned press box that Dexter had been appointed England’s captain for the tour of Australia, with Cowdrey as vice-captain. In their desperation for a good story, the press had not realised that Robbie had been ringing the changes and introducing red herrings like Sheppard only to satisfy himself that, in Dexter, he had the right man with the right attitude to challenge Richie Benaud in a battle of wills in the Test arena in Australia. Sheppard honoured his promise to go on the tour, whether as captain or not, and did well although the series was drawn 1-1. Wisden later reported that England had not regained the Ashes and ‘much of the cricket in the five Tests in the Antipodes fell below expectations. Too much emphasis was put on avoiding defeat in preference to thinking in terms of victory from the very first ball.’ This was exactly the type of cricket that Robbie thought he had ensured would not happen when he chose Dexter as captain, although Dexter himself, when at the crease, had showed more ambition than most batsmen on either side. Perhaps if Robbie had been there personally for the last two Tests in the New Year at Adelaide and Sydney as he had planned, when there was still a chance to bring back the Ashes, he may have been able to inspire England to believe that it was better to lose 3-1 while trying to win 3-1, than settling for no more defeats and a drawn series. Tragically, his father had become seriously ill just when Robbie was due to fly to Australia and he had cancelled his trip. Vivian passed away two weeks later at the age of 82. * * * * * * * It was back to business as usual for Robbie after the England team returned from the 1962/63 tour of Australia and New Zealand. The visitors in the summer of 1963 were the West Indies and it was hoped that the almost unchanged West Indies team from the great series of 1960/61 in Australia would revitalise Test cricket in England and bring back missing crowds. But first there was an MCC conference in April arranged by the special LBW Sub-committee, with Gubby Allen as chairman, to hear the case for reverting to the old law which, it was suggested, would bring the line of play more to the off-side and encourage attacking cricket. It was agreed that there should be no reversion to the old lbw law without a widening