Cricket trad and mod
Sir: One really does not wish, in defending Brian Close, to be drawn into the false position of seeming to attack Cowdrey. That would be foolish and unjust, for Cowdrey long ago won his place as one of the heroes of cricket. If last year he had been chosen as England's captain because it seemed at that time that he was obvi- ously the right choice, few people would have demurred, and certainly no one now begrudges the splendid success he has achieved in the West Indies.
This controversy is not, however, a matter of Close versus Cowdrey; the issue is simply whether Close, who had worthily and firmly :stablished himself as England's captain, was Jnjustly as well as ignominiously dismissed last ummer for a 'sin' which many others have :ommitted, though none singled out so mark- dly for such extreme severe punishment.
For evidence to support the claim of injus- tice one need look no further than to the recent fourth Test match, the only one in the series between England and West Indies to end in a result. Until Sobers made what now appears, by Test match standards, to have been a very rash declaration, Cowdrey showed every sign of working for a draw: we are told that at one stage England bowled only twenty-two overs in two hours—a far slower rate than that for Which Close was condemned at Egbaston in a match which in its own way was every bit as important as a Test match. It could not have been gamesmanship on Cowdrey's part; per- haps he was just determined not to lose—like Close. Later, when England were in sight of victory, Sobers spent a long time conferring with his bowlers—again like Close.
The impression remains that there was, and evidently there still exists, a prejudice against Close which is not entirely concerned with Ticketing ability. Perhaps he is seen, as Mr .imon Raven hinted, as a representative figure ,f 'new-age professionalism,' or some such.
Mr Roderick L. Badams (Letters, 5 April) wants to bring theology into the controversy. What one complains about in this case is the apparent application of a double standard.
Gordon Wilson St John's Vicarage, 14 Dane Bank Avenue, Crewe
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