To Aussie with love
Sir: If you people played cricket, I said in 1947 to some-Germans watching a game outside Bad Oeynhausen. 'maybe we wouldn't have had the war.' Though this may have been an exaggeration, nevertheless the very happy rel- ationships brought about by the game were amply borpe out the following year in the Test match at Lord's. Though obviously both sides played to win, the spirit between the players was a joy for the ringside spectator to behold. it truly was sport in the best sense of the word, and though there were exceptions, as there always are, every visitor to another country. was his own country's ambassador, both on and off the field. If this was not the case in other snorting contests. it could he counted upon in cricket. Nor was this confined to attitudes between players. but also between players and the game itself. Thus, if my remark to the German spectators of Bad Oevn- hausen may have been a little jocular, there was much that was true in it. Cricket seems to engender peace and restfulness, and inter- nationally. except for one lapse from grace in the 'thirties. never more so than against Australia.
With these ideas in the mind. Mr Simon Raven's article. written BS a spectator, hears out one's worst fears of the recent tour by the MIT. Aptly he describes the cricket as 'somehow dominated by a trade- union mentality'. which must he pretty low in the light of sonic tmdc unionists' remarks on the radio recently. But, of course, much of this was guessed from reading the press, and seeing ex-
cerpts on TV. What was surprising was to see that some cricket cor- respondents seemed to support the kind of game being played, and some of the more doubtful actions of some of the players, including the `walk-oil'' at Sydney.
Mr Raven puts his finger right on the spot when he points out that everything depends on the captain, not only on. but also off, the field. However, 1 wonder if one is to quarrel with the choice of captain if it is known that his opposite number on the field is also another Corporal Bloggins, for all except one Test? At least, we can expect no holds barred as far as games- manship is concerned—if victory and prestige are the main objec- tives. In actual fact, of course, it looked to me as if under an enter- prising captain, at least one, if not two more victories might have been ours.
Mr Raven's article deserves to be studied closely by the newly- anpointed selectors, in the hope that in future they may appoint teams to play which will not approach the game with the same attitude as did so many of the members apparently of the recent tour. They might well consider, too, whether the rewards of spon- sorship are not a main cause of present-day troubles. They seem to me to make anyone play for personal safety.
But having said all this, we still come back to the captaincy. It is he who makes or breaks a tour— or for that matter a county team. Does he also make for inter- national peace and goodwill'?
John F. C. White 20 Abbotsbury Road, Broadstone, Dorset
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