Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

cabled report on the first day’s play, and that he was astonished at the conduct of the barrackers, particularly those who had abused him in the members’ stand, and added “such treatment as was accorded me today might have been expected in any country except Australia. I do not care what people who are capable of such things think of me. You saw how the crowd behaved: is that not a better answer than anything I can give you?” Fender and Wilson had hardly gone out of their way to cool the resentment against them. It is worth pausing to reflect on what might have provoked the angry behaviour of certain of the spectators. No doubt Australian crowds were always more inclined to give vocal expression to their feelings about the play and the players than were their English counterparts (Bramall Lane notwithstanding) and it should be added that they were not averse to giving their own players the bird, at least in domestic matches. No less a player than Warwick Armstrong himself was frequently the butt of ribald comments from the crowd, and E.R.Mayne, the captain of Victoria, went so far as to suggest that barracking could destroy the confidence and careers of young players. Even when directed at the tourists, the barracking would usually be good-natured however, as it had been at Melbourne in the first match with Victoria mentioned above. Most Australians still had warm feelings towards the “Mother Country” bonded by the shared experiences of the First World War. However, in the early 1920s the Australian economy was depressed, unemployment high, and living standards generally low. There was some resentment that, after the sacrifices of Australia’s young men, particularly at Gallipoli, Britain was not doing enough to help Australia to get back on her feet. Australian crowds, some with memories of the British officer class during the War, could easily be aroused by any perceived insults from English amateur and upper-class cricketers such as Douglas, Fender and Wilson (and later, of course, Jardine) or by any of their shortcomings on or off the field. It needs to be added that the Test series had been very keenly anticipated in Australia with immense media interest. The overwhelming success of Warwick Armstrong’s team gave the keyed-up crowds plenty to cheer about and many opportunities to turn the knife in the England team’s failings, sometimes in what must have seemed a hurtful way. It Australia and After 85