Editing Gubby Allen (section)

===Bodyline series===
[[File:Bodyline Team.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A team photograph of England's 1932–33 side: Allen is seated second from the right on the front row. [[Douglas Jardine]] is in the centre of the front row and [[Pelham Warner]] is on the extreme left.|alt=A cricket team arranged in three rows. Seventeen men are dressed as players, the other three men are in suits.]]
The MCC tour of Australia during the 1932–33 season was highly controversial owing to the England team's use of what came to be known as [[Bodyline]] bowling.<ref>{{cite web|last=Williamson|first=Martin|title=A brief history ... Bodyline|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/bodyline/content/story/148537.html|publisher=ESPNCricinfo|access-date=8 April 2013}}</ref> The tactic involved bowling at [[leg stump]] or just outside it, pitching the ball short so that it reared at the batsman's body and with a ring of fielders ranged on the [[leg side]] to catch any defensive deflections from the bat. Bodyline bowling was intimidatory,<ref>Douglas, p. 103.</ref> and was largely designed and implemented by [[Douglas Jardine]], the MCC captain,<ref>Swanton, p. 110.</ref> in an attempt to curb the prolific scoring of Bradman.<ref>Douglas, pp. 86, 111.</ref> Allen was one of four fast bowlers chosen for the tour,<ref name=S111>Swanton, p. 111.</ref> but did not go along with Jardine's instructions to "hate" the opposition. Nevertheless, the two men got along,<ref name=S109>Swanton, p. 109.</ref> and Allen later claimed to be Jardine's "best friend" on the tour.<ref name="F116"/> Allen also wrote home that Jardine was "the stupidest man I know", claimed to be terrified of him and suggested that at times he felt like killing him.<ref>Frith, pp. 107, 116.</ref>

Jardine did not initially plan to include Allen in the Test team,<ref name=S109/> but the latter's bowling in the opening tour matches brought him into the frame.<ref name=S113>Swanton, p. 113.</ref> In his first game, he unsettled and dismissed Bradman with his pace;<ref name=S113/> in later years [[Jack Hobbs]], who reported on the game, suggested that Bradman was intimidated by Allen, and [[Jack Fingleton]], who played in the team with Bradman, claimed that he refused to face Allen's bowling.<ref>Frith, p. 83.</ref> Allen later wrote to his father that Bradman was a "terrible little coward of fast bowling"; the two men later became friends, and Bradman was never made aware of what Allen wrote.<ref name=F116/>

Allen played in England's victory in the first Test but took only one wicket.<ref name=figures/> He retained his place as part of a four-man pace attack in the second Test, took four wickets and was one of the most successful English batsmen in the match. Australia levelled the series after Bradman scored a century,<ref>Swanton, pp. 118–22.</ref> but England won the remaining three matches of the series.<ref name=figures/> In the third game, Allen opened the bowling and took four wickets in each innings. His performance was praised by critics and enhanced his reputation.<ref>{{Cite web| url = http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/151781.html| title = England v Australia 1932–33 (Third Test) | work = Wisden Cricketers' Almanack  | year = 1934 | publisher = John Wisden & Co | location = London |access-date = 8 April 2013}}</ref><ref>Swanton, p. 128.</ref> As Voce missed the fourth Test with injury, Allen bowled more in that game and took five wickets, but suffered a side-strain in the second innings.<ref>Swanton, p. 130.</ref> The injury prevented Allen bowling at full pace in the final Test; he played despite his own reservations and struggled throughout.<ref>Swanton, p. 132.</ref> In total, Allen took 21 Test wickets at an average of 28.23 and scored 163 runs at 23.28.<ref name=tbat/><ref name=tbowl/> In his review of the tour for ''Wisden'', Sydney Southerton wrote: "G. O. Allen, about whose selection many hard things were at the time said, fully justified his choice&nbsp;... He accomplished great work, often getting rid of batsmen likely to be dangerous; his fielding close in on the leg side was uniformly good and he played several excellent innings. Altogether a most useful man in the team."<ref>{{Cite web| url = http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/151778.html| title = The M.C.C. team in Australia and New Zealand, 1932–33| work = Wisden Cricketers' Almanack  | year = 1934 | publisher = John Wisden & Co | location = London |access-date = 8 April 2013}}</ref> Jardine praised his contribution after the tour, both to Allen's family and in his official report.<ref>Swanton, p. 136.</ref> In all first-class matches, Allen scored 397 runs at 24.81 and took 39 wickets at 23.05.<ref name=fcbatting/><ref name=fcbowling/> In his biography of Jardine, Christopher Douglas suggests: "[Allen] thrived on the intensive programme of matches and was able to build up his form and consistency to a standard that he hardly ever matched in England."<ref name=D121/>

Throughout the series, Allen refused to use Bodyline tactics,{{refn|Allen's definition of Bodyline was different from that of other people. He maintained that England did not use Bodyline until the second innings of the second Test, when Larwood began to bowl outside leg stump. He maintained that the bowling in the first Test was acceptable and not Bodyline.<ref>Swanton, pp. 137–38.</ref> Speaking to David Frith, he denied that Bodyline was used in the first match, and when challenged, replied: "My dear chap, I was ''there''."<ref>Frith, p. 120.</ref> Frith also reports that on the first day of the second Test, Allen had up to five fielders on the leg side, and one of his deliveries struck the Australian captain [[Bill Woodfull]] on the chest.<ref>Frith, p. 149.</ref> |group=notes}}<ref name=ODNB/><ref name=S111/> and openly said so within the team.<ref>Swanton, p. 127.</ref><ref>Douglas, p. 133.</ref> His attitude made him popular with Australian spectators.<ref name=F116>Frith, p. 116.</ref> Jardine twice tried to force the issue. Before the first Test, he asked Allen to bowl more bouncers with fielders on the leg side; Allen refused, saying he did not want to play cricket like that and that Jardine should leave him out if he was not happy.<ref name=F116/> Prior to the second Test, Jardine again approached Allen and said that Larwood and Voce wanted him to bowl short, and believed that he only refused because he wanted to maintain his popularity. Allen wrote home: "Well, I burst and said a good deal about swollen-headed, gutless, uneducated miners."<ref>Quoted in Frith, p. 146.</ref> Allen threatened not to play, and to go home to relate the events of the tour to the press. Jardine did not pursue the matter.<ref name=F146>Frith, p. 146.</ref> Others in the team also opposed Bodyline. The [[Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi|Nawab of Pataudi]] refused to field in the "leg trap"—the ring of fielders positioned on the leg side to catch deflections from short deliveries—during the first Test.{{refn|Although Pataudi refused to field in the leg trap in the first Test, contemporary diagrams show that he did so during the second Test.<ref name=F118/>|group=notes}}<ref name=F118>Frith, p. 118.</ref><ref>Douglas, p. 148.</ref> Allen had no compunction fielding there; at [[Fielding (cricket)#Fielding position names and locations|short leg]] he held five catches from Larwood's bowling in the series.<ref name=F116/> Upon his return to England, Allen continued to oppose Bodyline tactics, making his opinion known to senior figures in the MCC, and leading a debate among county representatives which resulted in legislation to ban the tactic after the 1934 season.<ref>Swanton, pp. 143–58.</ref>