Ray Illingworth - Trouble With The M.C.C.

Trouble With The M.C.C.

The M.C.C. tour manager was D.G Clark, Bernard Thomas of Warwickshire the assistant manager and physiotherapist and G.C.A. Saulez the scorer. Clark had been the amateur captain of Kent in 1949-51 who was described by Illingworth as "an amiable, but somewhat ineffectual man" and there were soon divisions between him and the players. After the Second Test Clark criticized both captains for cautious play, England for their short-pitched bowling and indicated that he would prefer to see Australia win 3-1 than see four more draws. Illingworth only discovered this when he was asked for a comment by a journalist in the morning and the rest of the team when they read the newspapers at the airport. As a result Illingworth effectively took over the running of the tour with the support of the players and Clark's influence declined. Unlike his predecessors Illingworth insisted on good hotel accommodation, decent sporting facilities, better travel arrangements, higher allowances and pay and fought hard to get them, which was greatly appreciated by the players. In the final Sydney Test Clark tried to push Illingworth back onto the field when he took the team off because of the crowd throwing beer cans after the Snow-Jenner incident. A furious Illingworth said he would not return until the playing area had been cleared and the crowd had calmed down and objected to Clark constantly siding with the Australians against his own team. When the team returned to England Illingworth said that "all hell would break loose" if anyone was denied his good conduct bonus (as with Fred Trueman in the West Indies in 1953-54), but this did not happen.