AN OPEN LETTER

Northern Advocate, 15 September 1934, Page 2

AN OPEN LETTER

PARKIN WRITES TO LARWOOD. ; SHOULD APOLOGISE TO M.C.C. ( . Cecil Parkin, the humorist of the .cricket field ,in his day, and a humor»isi with the pen in his book written ■ since .that day, wrote an open letter Vto; Harold Larwood, which was published. in the “Empire News” of July . ....., ’.. •

r.k'The tone of this letter and the hard-headed wisdom of Parkin turned :pn£forithe great fast - bowler to think about" show that Cecil Parkin has vfronrhis experience in ; the (phi (game. Here, follows the let- , tefi-n- y ■' Dear jHarold—After you’ve been as i long in county cricket as I’ve been out ’jof-it, you’ll pardon me for writing i this -letter. , , ( Even, so, J wouldn't do it if it were inot that I feel you’re set upon being - unjust to yourself. \ Somebody, I feel, must write to you : frankly in your own interest —and \ England’s—and nobody, though I say ;; itmyself, is better qualified than I to idd.lt. ’. i Years, ago, as you may have heard, < I-was a rebel, too. I; thought that a Durham-cum-Lan- : cashire: lad, who’d had some little dal- , lidnie , with Yorkshire, would be allowed to stand up for himself and on ■ everybody else. And I put my belief r to' the test —after a Test. ■ , one of your really murderous ■..Testslike what we play against the >; Australians, in which the giving of an ■ autograph would mean the loss of the ! game—but a pleasant cricket match . against the South Africans at Bir- ( mingham in 1924. I had a grouse; I felt that as the showier at the top of-the averages—l : know this is ancient history now; ■ but the schoolbooks are full of Ban- ; noekbufn so why shouldn’t I mention ; Birmingham—my captain, Mr Gilli- • gan', had handled me badly by not ‘ putting me on to bowl. In short, , I : felt I was “put on” because I wasn't -'put on, and after the match I swore, just- as you have done, that I’d never England again. With what unexpected result you know. I neyef did play for England again, v -But I don’t wapt that misfortune to •,liapperl to. you. One sufficient reason rvis that youTe too good a bowler, in a day which is as short of bowlers as -it is of rain. ;No, when I go up to the Oval in a (few weeks’ time—after Yorkshire representing England, has had a private Ido with the Australians all by herself -at Leeds—l want to see you correcting the enemies’ batting erroi's • instead of printers’ proofs. You could, poo. ■■'■■■■■ ** But, first, you must have the courtage to do what I failed to do. You (piust bowl a fast one at your pride; Tybu must write to the M.C.C. confessing error and allowing that ap England captain has the right to instruct pis bowlers as to how they shall bowl, (-just as .Mr Gilligan showed me . when -'they should bowl, and also what other they shall use. £ ; The letter need not be abject: it have my commendation nor £1 think, t thfe country’s, if it were. £ It should simply say that you have your position and you Lwant to help to beat the Australians. ty/. ■ would be enough. i3t Moreover, not even those mistaken iSif sincere., people who have counselled v'-and advised you to'buck against the of cricket ,as if you wore a »>bronc at a rodeo, could say that you •‘/At f "pad deserted your principles. £ ; You wouldn’t be guilty of bogtheory! Not you. ■’-^Vdh’d''-'only' 1 be showing us that . -you’re bigger than some give you credit(Jbr> : • -

bigger than I wan. though;-and this is for your own private'ear, Mr Gilligan and I are now so friendly, that; when we meet we lookvli&e a plenary session of the Disarmament Conference, with France getting all her own way. In fact, our only personal difference today is in weight. What I ask you finally to remember is that you are a big cricketer, and as sufch you ought to be in the biggest cricket. Yours very sincerely, • C. Parkin. Cecil Parkin’s final paragraph is one that every sportsman, cricketer or otherwise, should pin inside the tablets of his mind. A big sportsman should be big in every relation to his game and in his activities.