An extraordinary series
What an amazing Ashes contest the 1936/37 series in Australia was. See if you can spot the point at which the tide turned.
First Test (Brisbane): England won by 322 runs
Second Test (Sydney): England won by an innings and 22 runs
Third Test (Melbourne): Australia won by 365 runs.
Fourth Test (Adelaide): Australia won by 148 runs
Fifth Test (Melbourne): Australia won by an innings and 200 runs
In the first two Tests, Australia were bowled out 58 and 80. In the third they totalled 564 (Bradman 270), in the fourth 433 (Bradman 212) and in the fifth 604 (Bradman 169).
Guess that's what you call a turnaround.
The third Test was historic in that it was the first time in a Test match that both teams declared their first innings closed. Declarations were still a new-fangled idea in 1937 and skippers were still trying to get the hang of them which perhaps explains Gubby Allen's decision to terminate England's first-innings at 76 for 9.
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Brian Halford - Brian Halford’s look at Edgbaston.
I think you may be doing a disservice to the England captain Gubby Allen. His declaration at 76 for 9 (or 9 for 76 as the local press reported it) was an attempt to get the Australians back in on a wet pitch, with 35 minutes left for play that day. He was in fact widely criticised for not having declared earlier! As it was, only three overs were possible before the weather closed in. He was tactically outfoxed by Bradman, who responded by sending his tailenders in first while the pitch was at its worst. Regular number 11 Chuck Fleetwood-Smith is said to have been told by Bradman, when he expressed his dismay at having to open the batting, that he was "not a good enough player to get a touch" on anything he was about to receive, and therefore couldn't be caught. And he didn't, surviving on 0 not out at the close. After the rest day, Bradman held his key batsmen back. Usual opener Jack Fingleton went in at number six, and Bradman at number seven. He arrived at 97 for 5, added 346 with Fingleton, and stayed nearly eight hours for the double-hundred that turned the series.
An even more extreme example of this type of declaration is the Brisbane Test of 1950. England captain Freddie Brown, his team having been caught on a sticky wicket, declared at 68 for 7 - 160 behind - only to find his opposite number Lindsay Hassett declaring an hour later at 32 for 7 to set England just 193 to win. Brown held back his star batsmen Len Hutton and Denis Compton, but at the close England were 30 for 6, and succumbed the following day for 122 (Hutton 62, Compton 0) to lose by 70 runs.
If Mr Fleetwood-Smith "not a good enough player to get a touch" to anything why didn't they just bowl at the stumps?
That seems like a good idea, although as Warwickshire's experience of bowl-outs tells us, that isn't necessarily the easiest thing to do anyway, let alone on an untrustworthy pitch. It's almost as puzzling as having a bowler whose name was "Chuck".
As Australia had totalled only 200 wouldn't it have been worth letting the last pair (Mr Allen himself and Voce, who both made first-class centuries) attempt to nurdle, or in Voce's case, smite a few runs to eat into the relatively small deficit?
He may have been rushed by the excitement of the collapse, as England had been 68/3. England keeper Les Ames claimed Walter Hammond and Maurice Leyland had had to bat "wonderfully well" to add 42 for the second wicket. Wisden reported: "It is possible England would have done better had Allen's declaration been made earlier but, as one authority put it, the England captain could not be expected to possess second sight."
Another noteworthy thing, by the way, in view of attendances at recent international matches. This match broke all records for attendances, being watched by a total of more than 350,000 supporters over the six days. Wisden reports that on the third day, when Bradman began his 270, a crowd of 87,798 attended - and paid a total of A£7,405, which a little research tells me equated to £5,924 sterling.
Interestingly, as the series continued Chuck Fleetwood-Smith made a nonsense of his captain's scathing assessment of his batting. Far from being "not good enough to get a touch on anything", he scored 1 and 4 not out at Adelaide before reaching the lofty heights of 13 in the final Test.
He played in 10 Tests in all as a left-arm spinner having changed his action after he broke his right arm at school. Sadly, he fell on hard times later in life and lived rough for a while before passing away, aged 60, in 1971.
There's a rather good BBC radio documentary of this series available to listen to by clicking on this link. It's about half-way down the page on the right.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/5384332.stm