Sir George Oswald Browning "Gubby" Allen[notes 1] CBE (31 July 1902 – 29 November 1989) was a cricketer who captained England in eleven Test matches.

[31] He began well, reaching fifty in a first-class match for the first time against Middlesex, in which he shared a stand of 120 for the ninth wicket with Ralph Huband, and taking six for 89 in the same game.

[40][41] In late 1923, having decided not to return to Cambridge, Allen took a job in the City (London's financial district) working for the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation as an underwriter.

[45] By the beginning of the 1926 season, he and fellow fast bowler Harold Larwood were tipped in the press to be chosen for the England team against Australia that summer.

[49] When he returned to England, he played eight matches before the end of June,[25] including a game for the MCC against the touring New Zealand team in which he scored a century and took ten wickets.

[51] During his time there, Allen became aware that the firm's finances were unsound; he warned Hugh Smith, who after some enquiries, withdrew from the business, along with his fellow investor Sir Frederick Richmond.

[67] On the second morning, an article in the Daily Express by Trevor Wignall, a popular journalist who wrote sensational sports stories, suggested that the crowd's enjoyment of the day was marred by Allen's inclusion on the grounds of his Australian birth.

[notes 6] When Larwood withdrew with an ankle injury, Allen was added to the team;[76] according to Anthony Meredith, writing in The Cricketer in 2002, Pelham Warner made this decision himself without consulting his fellow selectors, to their considerable annoyance.

[89] He was low in the national batting and bowling averages; critics pointed out his infrequent appearances in first-class cricket and questioned his stamina for a long tour.

Bodyline bowling was intimidatory,[92] and was largely designed and implemented by Douglas Jardine, the MCC captain,[93] in an attempt to curb the prolific scoring of Bradman.

He accomplished great work, often getting rid of batsmen likely to be dangerous; his fielding close in on the leg side was uniformly good and he played several excellent innings.

[121][122] Allen did not feel suited to working in a department store, and on his return home took a job with the stockbroking company David Bevan and Co.[122] Consequently, he played little cricket in 1933.

[126] As the 1934 season began, Allen was recovering from an operation to repair a rupture and played only once before that summer's Ashes series, in which Bob Wyatt captained England.

[153] Bradman then reversed his batting order to protect his main batsmen until the conditions eased; the tactic worked, as he and Jack Fingleton shared a partnership of 346 for the sixth wicket.

[156] For the game, Australia chose a fast bowler, Laurie Nash, who had returned to first-class cricket after a three-year absence to play for Victoria against the MCC.

During the first two Tests, almost every one of his moves succeeded instantly ... No doubt, Allen had studied his opponents carefully and knew their weaknesses, and if his tactics were not always dictated by accepted principles they certainly proved very successful.

[40][41] A combination of fatigue from the Australian tour and his need to return to work reduced the amount of cricket Allen played in 1937,[164] and he announced his unavailability for the summer's Test series against New Zealand.

[186] He bowls really fast, with an action answering to classical requirements, sideways on, left shoulder seen momentarily by the batsman, then a strong urgent swing over, after a run to attack that is sturdy and galloping and not too long.

"[191] Although opposed to Bodyline tactics in Australia, Allen often bowled short to intimidate batsmen in county cricket—for example, he once struck Wyatt over the heart with a fast ball.

[190] Allen's Wisden obituary stated: "[He] had a stronger influence on the welfare and development of cricket than anyone since Lord Harris [who died in 1932] over a period of more than 50 years.

One of his first actions, prompted by a conversation with Hutton on the West Indies tour, was to secure honorary membership of the club for prominent retired professional cricketers.

[206][207] Many professional cricketers thought that Allen was a snob who preferred to keep them in their place;[208] critics believed that he deliberately restricted the career of Les Jackson for reasons of class.

[206] He played an active role in home Test matches, generally attending at least three of the five days of every game, discussing tactics with the captain,[210] and speaking to the press.

"[216] Allen was involved in one controversial episode, when the Australians accused him and other selectors of arranging for the pitches during the Test matches to give a lot of assistance to spin bowlers, which led to Laker's extraordinary success in the series.

The newly formed Sports Council required that, to receive financial support from the government, cricket be more democratically organised and not run by a private members' club.

An inheritance from his mother, his earnings on the Stock Exchange and the success of investments he had made in Australia left him affluent—his knowledge of Australian markets was respected in the City.

[242] They had earlier written to the South African Cricket Association to establish whether they had a free hand in choosing a team,[243] but their change of strategy meant that when the official reply arrived Allen refused to take receipt of it.

[242] In March 1968, Lord Cobham, an MCC member who wanted the tour to go ahead,[244] met Vorster, who told him that D'Oliveira would not be an acceptable selection to the South African government.

[245] Oborne suggests that Douglas-Home's advice was made redundant by Cobham's letter, and that Allen's supposed desire to protect the other selectors was "preposterous" as the tour would have been cancelled.

The MCC was no longer solely responsible for any decisions, being only a part of the Cricket Council, but Allen pressed the government to intervene and decide whether the tour should go ahead.