GILLIGAN DROPPED

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 48, 19 May 1927, Page 9

GILLIGAN DROPPED

Pays Penalty for Attack on Snobbery in India

APOLOGY DOES NOT SAVE HIM

FE famous English cricketer, A. E. R. Gilligan, was recently defeated for a position on the Test Trial Committee of the M.C.C. According to the more outspoken of the English newspapers, his defeat was part of the price he had to pay for his trenchant attack on the snobbery of certain Indian cricket clubs.

After English cricket circles had recovered from the stunned silence which greeted Gilligan’s scathing attack, players and public alike sat back to wait developments. They were not long in coming. GILLIGAN APOLOGISES Anglo-Indian members of the M.C.C., who wield great influence in Indian cricket, cabled a protest against Gilligan’s statements to London and pressure was brought to bear on the famous cricketer to retract his remarks. Gilligan did so and the apology was cabled to India and Australia. The M.C.C. is all-powerful in the world of cricket. Many great players have incurred the displeasure of the lords of English cricket and in nearly every case it has been followed by a loss of prestige. In some cases they have been completely relegated to the outer darkness. TENNYSON AND CARR Tennyson came to light in 1921 as the hard-hitting, care-free skipper of the last two English elevens which did so much to rehabilitate the Old Country’s fortunes in cricket in the two drawn games with Armstrong’s men. But in the next season the grandson of the poet was adjudged not to have conformed to the standards set by the great panjandrums of cricket. Out he went!

Last year A. W. Carr got it in the neck. The Notts. amateur was severely criticised for daring to put the Australians in to bat in one of the earlier tests after he had won the toss. Had his tactics been successful —but for Macartney being dropped early they might have been—Carr would have been acclaimed a hero. But he was dropped for the final and deciding test, which England won. “GAVE THE SHOW AWAY” Then it was that Carr let the cat out of the bag. Smarting under a sense of injustice, he let it be known that Mr. “Plum” Warner, no less, had had a finger in the pie. His statement was received in ominous silence. Since then not much has been heard of the unrepentant Mr. Carr. Gilligan is the latest to offend against the cast-iron rule of the M.C.C. His attack embraced some of the most influential hosts of the team in India. And in India, social **caste” is allpowerful. So strong were the influences brought to bear that Gilligan has seen fit to make a wholesale retraction of his statements. Even that did not save him from incurring a drastic reminder of the governing body’s displeasure. What the future holds in store for A. E. R. Gilligan is in the lap of the gods —of the M.C.C.