Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

129 The Test Player Did he have the right temperament for Test cricket? The closest examination of his performance still possible so many years later suggests that, apart possibly from ‘first-day nerves’ in his first match against South Africa, there is no evidence that he did not. After his Test career was over he wrote an article on the subject without reference to himself. 238 The most interesting points are his absolute rejection of the theory that ‘there is no such thing as the big-match temperament’, his insistence on an ‘electric’ big-match ‘atmosphere’, his surprise that a seasoned cricketer’s outstanding feeling after the First Test against Australia in 1930 was relief that it was over for ‘the strain was terrific’, and his example of a batsman ‘lacking in his make-up temperamentally’ by showing nerves and regularly failing when moved out of his customary first-wicket-down position in the batting order. That last must have been quite baffling to a man who had performed well in every position possible. David Frith wrote, ‘Astill came so near to carving out for himself an illustrious Test career, winning all kinds of accolades and representative honours’. 239 A similar claim could be made for Vallance Jupp of Sussex and Northamptonshire, his contemporary rival as an all-rounder, but what other spin-bowling all-rounder was worth an England place in his time other than Rhodes, before his decline as a bowler, and perhaps Woolley, who was played more as a batsman? 240 Bradman, a hard yet fair judge, assessed him as ‘a very good county bowler but I would have thought short of international class’; 241 but Bradman knew him only when he was past his best. Astill could count himself as unlucky in not having had an opportunity in his heyday to prove himself in the England team on home soil. Certainly a similar opinion was held by the Wisden of 1933: ‘He may with justice consider himself unfortunate never to have played against Australia’. 242 238 ‘Sidelights on Test Ordeals’, Sports Mercury , 28 June 1930, p 4. 239 The Slow Men , p 99. 240 Rhodes played in only one Test between May 1921 and his surprising recall for the West Indies tour of 1929/30. Woolley, who played frequently during Astill’s heyday, averaged 19 overs a match during his Test career as opposed to Jupp with 27 (in eight Tests) and Astill with over 40. Freeman, who played a total of 12 Tests, was no batsman despite finishing with a Test average superior to Astill’s. 241 In a private letter to the author. 242 Wisden , 1933, p 272.