ALLEN'S VICTORY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22671, 8 March 1937, Page 10

ALLEN'S VICTORY

Stumps have been drawn for the last time for the English cricket team in Australia, and New Zealand looks forward with the keenest anticipation to its tour here. Pending its arrival, sportsmen will have time to reflect upon the test series. Many who see more than the ashes in the contest will ponder the statement of Allen, the English captain, who, at a social gathering, said that his captaincy had killed him as a cricketer. He may have spoken in a .moment of depression. But, whatever he felt, whatever he failed to achieve, there is one transcendent fact about the tests which places Allen on a pinnacle: he removed entirely the spirit of hostility left bv the last English team in the Australian crpwd. He did not win the ashes, but he did a greater thing by restoring the harmony without which cricket has no purpose. He did this without deliberate effort; he simply played the game. His very personality on the field seems to have worked some influence in the crowd. He wished to win, but banished all sense of the game being a kind of gladiatorial combat. Allen therefore has won for himself almost a unique place in the list of English captains. He stands as a great public tutor of the true sporting spirit—and such tutors are necessary, unfortunately, when international sports arouse fiery national instincts. This has been particularly noticeable in connection with the Olympiads. Allen and men of his type gain higher laurels off the field than they can win on it.