England’s winning streak in 1928-1929 that has just been surpassed will forever be associated in my mind with Percy Chapman, the most talented amateur of his generation, who took over England’s captaincy in 1926. I saw a lot of his cricket because he lived in my home town of Hythe and, being a man of the utmost goodwill, occasionally turned out for the town side.As a schoolboy, he had a remarkable record at Uppingham, won his Cambridge Blue as a freshman, played brilliantly for Kent and led England to a famous victory in the final Test at the Oval in 1926, breaking a long spell of Australian supremacy.Our cricket had taken time to recover from the ravages of the First World War. So Chapman’s spell of success was doubly welcome. It must be added that in the late 1920s, he had a remarkably strong side. I can remember by heart the batting order of the team we sent to Australia in 1924-25: Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Hearne, Woolley, Chapman and Hendren.Chapman drew big crowds because as a left-hand batsman he was a tremendous hitter. He liked to hit the ball very high and a fair proportion of his sixes landed outside the ground. He relished fast bowling. To watch him and Frank Woolley, another left-hander, in full flow, as I did once or twice at Canterbury Cricket Week, was a treat. But his power of command, it always seemed to me, came from the style in which he fielded.His favourite place in the field was short leg or gully and always in exactly the right spot. There, he would stop blinding shots without seeming to move his body. He had exceptionally quick reflexes for a large man, and enormous hands.Having caught the ball without moving, he would bluff everyone by looking round to see where the ball had gone. No wonder crowds loved him. He was an actor as well as a very good cricketer and captain.Good in adversity, too. The last time I saw him play at Lords was against Australia in 1930. The golden patch had just passed. Australia, on the prowl, kept England toiling in the field for two days, compiling more than 700 runs, with Woodfull and Bradman to the fore. That would have flattened some captains. Chapman responded by making a century.His greatest achievement was following up the Oval victory in 1926 by winning the first four Tests on Australian territory in the winter of 1928-29 — at Brisbane by 675 runs, at Sydney by eight wickets, at Melbourne by three wickets and at Adelaide by 12 runs. A pity that in those days, cricket played in Australia was out of sight for almost everyone in this country.Chapman starred in days of cricket’s innocence. His time as captain was before apartheid made cricketing relations with South Africa difficult and eventually impossible, and before his successor, Douglas Jardine, had introduced bodyline bowling to Australia.As a brilliant amateur cricketer who usually wore a broad smile, he made the game look thoroughly enjoyable for both his team and the spectators. Perhaps that is why he was so successful.(The Daily Telegraph)
