Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Gubby Allen
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===Cambridge University=== Allen played for [[Cambridge University Cricket Club|Cambridge]] in 1922.<ref name=S47>Swanton, p. 47.</ref> He was left out of the team's first game; as the university was playing Middlesex, he played for the opposition instead and took six for 13.<ref name=Sw47-9/> Around this time, he began to bowl [[Fast bowling|fast]] for the first time.<ref name=S48>Swanton, p. 48.</ref> After success in the following games—including ten wickets in the game against [[Sussex County Cricket Club|Sussex]]—Allen was awarded his [[Blue (university sport)|blue]] by being selected for the [[The University Match (cricket)|University Match]] against [[Oxford University Cricket Club|Oxford]] at Lord's.<ref name=figures/><ref name=Sw47-9>Swanton, pp. 47–49.</ref> In that game, he had match figures of nine for 78 in a comfortable Cambridge victory.<ref name=S51>Swanton, p. 51.</ref> This was Cambridge's last game of the season—Allen had taken 49 first-class wickets at an average of 15.<ref name=S51/> There were suggestions in the press at the time that Allen illegally [[Throwing (cricket)|threw]], rather than bowled, the ball. In his biography of Allen, [[E. W. Swanton]] writes that these rumours were neither widespread nor repeated later in Allen's career, and that they may have resulted from a one-off lapse.<ref name=S48/> Towards the end of the season, Allen returned to the Middlesex team and his 15 wickets placed him at the top of the county's bowling averages.<ref>Swanton, p. 52.</ref> Allen played rugby for the Trinity team before resuming cricket for the 1923 season.<ref name="Swanton, p. 57">Swanton, p. 57.</ref> He began well, reaching fifty in a first-class match for the first time against Middlesex, in which he shared a stand of 120 for the ninth wicket with [[Ralph Huband]], and taking six for 89 in the same game.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/10/10750.html|title=Cambridge University v Middlesex, 1923|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=2022-01-10|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Further bowling success followed but before the University Match, he once more injured his rib muscles. Persuaded to play anyway, Allen could only bowl short spells which lacked incisiveness and Cambridge lost heavily.<ref>Swanton, pp. 54–55.</ref> Several critics, including some teammates, believed he did not try.<ref name=S63/> During the match, Allen consulted a specialist over his frequent rib injuries; the specialist's treatment and a period of rest cured the problem for the remainder of his career.<ref name=S56>Swanton, p. 56.</ref> Allen's Cambridge season was further marred by differences with his captain, [[Claude Ashton]], over team selections and tactics.<ref>Swanton, p. 54.</ref> The 1923 University Match was his final game for Cambridge as Trinity, unhappy with his lack of academic work, [[Rustication (academia)|rusticated]] him in the summer.{{refn|Had the cricket team elected Allen as their captain for the following season, another Cambridge college would have taken him, but he was passed over for the position. He had been appointed the cricket team's secretary after the 1922 season, a position which was often a stepping-stone to the captaincy.<ref name=S53>Swanton, p. 53.</ref> Before the election for 1924, Allen had discussed the position with Ashton, who was to nominate his successor before voting; Ashton misunderstood Allen's comments, told the meeting that Allen was "happy not to be appointed", and nominated [[Tom Lowry]], who was subsequently elected.<ref name=S56/>|group=notes}}<ref name=S56/> Later in the 1923 season, Allen was recalled by Middlesex and played five games for the county.<ref name=figures/><ref name="Swanton, p. 57"/> At the end of the season, he was chosen in two [[Scarborough Festival]] games; one of these was the prestigious [[Gentlemen v Players]] match, in which he appeared for the amateur "Gentlemen".<ref name=figures/><ref name=S58>Swanton, p. 58.</ref> This was the first of Allen's 11 appearances for the Gentlemen in this fixture between 1923 and 1938.<ref>Marshall, p. 336.</ref> In the whole season, he took 66 wickets at 19.50 and scored 528 runs at an [[Batting average (cricket)|average]] of 24.00.<ref name=fcbatting>{{cite web| url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/559/f_Batting_by_Season.html| title = First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Gubby Allen| website = CricketArchive| access-date = 23 March 2013}}</ref><ref name=fcbowling>{{cite web| url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/559/f_Bowling_by_Season.html| title = First-class Bowling in Each Season by Gubby Allen| website = CricketArchive| access-date = 23 March 2013}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)