LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

70 play against the Southern Districts of New South Wales XI and asked Wyatt to take over the team, giving Robbie a well-deserved rest at last. Allen left Canberra as soon as he had performed the duties expected of him and stayed with friends for the weekend, deciding to skip the match in Sydney against New South Wales, re-instating Robbie as captain. He eventually drove to Sydney and arrived while the match was in progress, but reacted badly to more demands on his time, official and unofficial. A meeting with Robbie, Howard and Wyatt convinced him that he should leave at once and extend his holiday from affairs of cricket even further, including the next game against Victoria in Melbourne. So once again, Robbie continued as leader of the squad, a responsibility to which he was now well accustomed despite Allen’s reservations about his commitment. Since 17 November Allen had only played in two state games out of seven and had missed three out of four of the two-day country matches. Allen rejoined the team in Melbourne three days before the final Test. He was disturbed to hear that, during the match against Victoria, the fast bowler Nash had upset MCC batsmen with a stream of bouncers and that the Australian selectors had included Nash in their list of 13 names for the Test. The Australians also included McCormick, another fast bowler inclined to use bouncers as a regular part of his attack. Taking Robbie with him as a witness to the discussion, he met Bradman over lunch and told him that if the selection of both fast bowlers meant an onslaught of short-pitched deliveries, England would feel free to retaliate. Bradman resented this interference in his choice of players, but Robbie was able to influence both captains into realising that they needed to draw back from what could develop into an awkward stand-off with neither prepared to back down. It was agreed that the occasional bouncer at batsmen on either side would be acceptable. This would be Robbie’s last involvement with the tour in any capacity. In choosing the team for the final Test, Allen had decided to rely entirely on the opinions of the other selectors based on current form during the past two state matches while he was elsewhere. Allen did not like going into the match without a leg-spinner but his argument, damning Robbie with faint praise, ’even if he is bad he produces variation’, was not strong enough to convince the others to keep Robbie in the side. Whatever he felt privately about the decision to drop him, Robbie knew what to do next. Seven months earlier at Lord’s, the MCC Committee had agreed that there would be no objection to Robbie returning to England at the conclusion of the Australian portion of the tour, should business commitments demand his personal attention. Robbie stayed just long enough to watch the start of the Test and wish the team good luck before going off to accept an invitation to go shooting in South Australia, an exercise designed to help strengthen his damaged finger. Eventually England lost and the victorious Australian captain then invited Robbie to stay with him and his wife Jessie at their home in Adelaide until there was a ship available to take him back to England. They competed with each other at golf and various other sports, with Robbie usually the To Australia with Gubby