Shot Stories

The roles they played

Playwright Terence Rattigan's 1953 film The Final Test featured six England Test cricketers

June 2016

"Facing a camera is a lot easier than facing Lindwall and Miller - and much better paid," said Len Hutton , who played the England captain. But John Arlott, who provided commentary for the movie, recalled: "Hutton produced an alarmingly stilted 'You have done it be-fore-do it a-gain.' The director… took Len aside, urged him to get a seat on the train home… and repeat to himself… 'You've done it before - do it again!' in strict time with the rhythm of the wheels, which Len duly did."

According to Sydney's Sunday Herald, Cyril Washbrook was at first unhappy about being dismissed for 40 in the film, while Len Hutton went on to make a hundred, so it took director Anthony Asquith's best diplomacy efforts (he was the son of a former British prime minister) to soothe Washbrook's ruffled feathers. "After all, it's only for this film, isn't it? And it doesn't hurt my average," a cheerful Washbrook said later.

Wilfred Rhodes was 52 when he played his final Test and WG Grace was nearly 51 when he played his. So it wasn't all that unrealistic to have the 57-year-old Jack Warner play the lead role of Sam Palmer, who is making his last appearance for England, at The Oval, and wants his son, Reggie, an aspiring poet with little interest in cricket, to witness it. Reggie eventually turns up, only to watch his father get out for a duck in his final innings (sound familiar?).

Before air guitar came air cricket. Former Test cricketer-turned-coach Alf Gover provided several lessons to Jack Warner, the film's star, to hit impressively in the air. Gover was also responsible for selecting actual match reels - he chose from the 1948 Ashes - that were to be interspersed between the close-ups of the actors' and cricketers' pretend play.

Is this Alec Bedser or his identical twin Eric? Hard to say, because, according to Sydney's Sunday Herald, "the Bedser twins have also been taxing [the director] Asquith's persuasive powers, especially as Eric Bedser had no business to be there at all except by right of inseparability".

The famous Oval gasometers, seen in the reflection here, are actually only a backdrop set up at the studio. The film was released in the UK in time for the 1953 Ashes, which England regained after 19 years by winning… the final Test at The Oval by eight wickets.