by Arunabha Sengupta and Sumit Gangopadhyay
A man of many shades, Gilligan was a fast bowler of considerable pace and ability who combined into a formidable combination with Maurice Tate for Sussex and England.
For Sussex, Gilligan was prolific in the early 1920s, appointed captain in 1922, and achieved the double in 1923. In 1922-23, he toured South Africa with Frank Mann’s side. It was there he made his Test debut and was appointed vice-captain.
Later, appointed captain, Gilligan led England against South Africa at home and then on the Ashes campaign of 1924-25. He began his captaincy with figures of 6 for 7 and 5 for 83 against South Africa at Edgbaston. That was incidentally the debut of Herbert Sutcliffe and Gilligan’s opening partner Maurice Tate, and also the first time Test cricket was graced by the legendary opening combination of Sutcliffe and Hobbs. In the first innings, Tate and Gilligan bowled South Africa out for 30 in just 75 balls, bowling unchanged.
However, in 1924, Gilligan sustained a blow near the heart while batting and was not that effective as a bowler after that. The 5 Tests in Australia in 1924-25 earned him 10 wickets at an expensive 51.90 apiece and that was the end of his Test career.
Additionally, his supposed fascist leanings were cause of plenty of speculation when he led England on that same 1924-25 Australian tour. He became a member of the British Fascist Party and probably the Australian Fascist Group as well.
The undercover Fascist
Infamous for its ridiculous inflated claims of membership numbers, the British Fascists nevertheless had several thousand in their ranks when Gilligan took his men to Australia. One of their many objectives was to grow their organisation in foreign lands, far beyond the island of Great Britain. In some ludicrous way they wanted to spread fascism in Italy too … but for the purpose of our article it suffices to say that Australia was one of the lands they were looking at to spread their gospel.
Not only was Gilligan a prominent follower of the fascist ideology, the captain of England had rather strong views that the game itself was a splendid example of fascism in action. On his return to England, Gilligan wrote an article for the bulletin of the British Fascists. Titled The Spirit of Fascism and Cricket, the piece spoke eloquently about the link between the sport and the ideology, in certain words which will find a lot of sympathy among several push-button commentators of the present day: “On cricket tours it is essential to work solely on the lines of fascism, i.e. the team must be good friends and out for one thing, and one thing only, namely the good of the side, and not for any self-glory”.
It was not only that Gilligan subscribed to fascist doctrine. He was identified as an extremist element by the British Special Branch. Before the tour the Australian counterparts of the agency were alerted about the visit of an England captain with such inclinations.
He was not alone either. The Manager of the MCC side was Frederick Toone, another member of the British Fascists. Cricket described Toone as a ‘hard-headed business-like son of good old Yorkshire’. The Special Branch missive informed on both Gilligan and Toone. Warwickshire researcher Robert Brooke, who has done a lot to bring the murky details to light, later wrote: “AER Gilligan spent his spare time extolling the virtues of Benito Mussolini’s fascism.”
Whether or not Gilligan’s propaganda was greatly successful is debatable, but there were developments that may be difficult to conveniently file away under coincidences. Soon after the end of the tour, even as Cricket reported that Arthur Gilligan was looking bronzed and fit on his return to England, the Commonwealth Investigation Branch made the unsavoury discovery that British Fascist branches had been set up in the major cities around Australia. According to historian Andrew Moore of University of Western Sydney, Macarthur, enrolment forms, internal memoranda and propaganda were uncovered in Sydney, all of that printed in London.
The cricketer and the man
However, one can scarcely expect that staid and solid narrator of cricketing facts to speak ill of the dead.
Hence, in Gilligan’s obituary Wisden faithfully recounted the splendid fast bowler he had been before Frederick Pearson’s delivery struck him over the heart during the 1924 Gentleman vs Players match; how he always batted with pluck low down the order and fielded splendidly at mid-off. It glossed over his personable image, the way he strove to promote the game of cricket and the splendid values it inculcated around the world. It spoke of his tenure as Chairman of Sussex and President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), his popularity as a radio commentator alongside Vic Richardson, about how his brother Harold led a England side in New Zealand and how his daughter married Peter May. In fact, with unintended irony, Wisden mentioned Gilligan was ‘a master of the diplomatic comment if any tiresome incident occurred.’
Wisden thus also conveniently sidestepped the rather infamous Basil D’Oliveira connection.
Born on December 23, 1894, Gilligan started playing for Dulwich College at the age of 17. After obtaining his Cambridge Blue, he captured 18 wickets in four matches for the Surrey Second XI. In 1919 he started playing for Surrey before finding a permanent place in Sussex from the following year.
As a fast medium bowler he captured 868 wickets in first-class cricket with a best performance of 8 for 25. Additionally he was a hard hitting tail-ender whos cored 9140 runs with 12 hundreds, at a decent average just over 20.
In 11 Tests Gilligan captured 36 wickets at 29.05. His figures did take a beating during the last tour of Australia.
In the 1926-27 season, Gilligan led the MCC to India in 1926-27. It was largely due to his recommendation and influence that Imperial Cricket Conference acknowledged India as a Test playing-nation.
Gilligan continued to play for Sussex, but more as a batsman than bowler. He finally called it a day after the 1932 season.
Thereafter he moved into journalism and broadcasting, forming the aforementioned well-loved partnership with former Australian skipper Vic Richardson.
In later life, he officiated as president of MCC and it was during his tenure that the entire controversy surrounding the non-selection of Basil D’Oliveira erupted in 1968, changing the course of cricket forever. Again, Gilligan’s involvement remained rather indecisive, feeble, toeing the establishment line and more than somewhat murky.
As Wisden did mention in their obituary his brother Harold Gilligan also led England when a second-string side toured New Zealand in 1930. Harold’s daughter married the England captain and legendary batsman Peter May, connecting three England skippers through a rare relationship.