LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

68 To Australia with Gubby for the addition of a paltry eight runs. Wasting nine precious minutes without scoring, Allen stormed off, finally declaring at 76 for nine, but with only about 30 minutes left for play in deteriorating light. Cardus was not optimistic: ‘It seemed a grim belated joke, as well as strategy hopeful and embarrassed and enforced.’ O’Reilly went first ball but fewer than three overs were bowled before Fleetwood-Smith and Ward succeeded in convincing the umpires, after several appeals against the bad light, that it was time to end play for the day. By Monday afternoon, after several interruptions the wicket had started to calm down and Bradman and Fingleton saw Australia safely to 194 for five by the end of the day. Eventually, they added 346 for the sixth wicket and England needed 689 runs to win. To their credit, England never gave up trying, although it seemed all over when Robbie joined Leyland at 195 for six. Going on the attack from the start, Robbie drove his first ball through the covers and they ran two before he turned for a third, but Leyland waved him back: ‘Steady lad, you know we can’t get ’em all tonight!’ Next day they added 86 runs in 45 minutes before Robbie was bowled by O’Reilly for 61, his innings described by Cardus as ‘gay, impudent dartings up and down were like a sort of whimsical dance of death in England’s extreme hour.’ After his departure at 306 for seven the England innings soon ended with the addition of only 17 more runs. By now Allen’s letters home were containing longer passages of complaint about the pressures he was under, and how his health and mental stability were being worn down by the demands being put upon him, on and off the field. There was a three-week break between the Third and Fourth Test in which MCC would have to travel to Tasmania for two first-class matches. Licking his wounds, Allen decided to stay over in Melbourne for the first week to mix pleasure with some personal business meetings. Wyatt was going to make his return to action at last and Robbie welcomed him back into the team for an innings victory over Tasmania, during which Robbie took two important wickets and gave himself the heaviest bowling load of 18 overs. Allen flew over to Launceston in time to lead the team in a draw with a Combined XI. He then wrote a long letter to his father in which he launched an extraordinary series of complaints about Robbie: The one real disappointment on the trip in many ways, but this is between you and me only, is Robbie. He is very difficult on occasions when he should be setting a good example and is now going through one of his spasms of saying he hates cricket, is no good at it, and wants to go home. It is essential that he plays in the Tests but at the present moment he simply can’t bowl at all and looks as though he isn’t trying. He will never go on another tour, I know, and on the whole I think it is a good thing. I am very fond of him still and he amuses me a great deal but he has done some unwise things and the pros don’t respect him anymore. He thinks it is clever to defy authority and refuses to see that it is a hopeless view to take especially on tour. Allen seemed to have forgotten that Robbie had just spent nearly three months frustrated by the serious damage to his hand which had prevented