could in the summer; when unable to play for Middlesex, he played weekend club cricket—including for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)—and country house cricket. Allen was free to play regularly for Middlesex in 1924. The team was involved in a close race for the County Championship with Yorkshire, and Allen had several successful matches. He ended the season with 568 runs at 21.84 and 50 wickets at 17.48. Playing less often in 1925, he scored 392 runs, took 39 wickets, and scored his maiden first-class century in the Gentlemen v Players match at the Oval. He was also chosen for the first time to represent the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's, where he scored 52, and his reputation grew steadily. 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. Allen began well for Middlesex but was less successful in a trial match to help choose the England team. Larwood was chosen for the Test series; Allen was not. In county cricket, Allen scored his first century for Middlesex, and began to open the bowling occasionally, having been the third or fourth bowler in previous seasons. Overall, he scored 771 runs, the highest seasonal aggregate of his career, at an average of 29.65 and took 44 wickets at 28.27. During the northern winter of 1926–27, Allen toured Argentina to play first-class cricket with an MCC team. When he returned to England, he played eight matches before the end of June, including a game for the MCC against the touring New Zealand team in which he scored a century and took ten wickets. In total, he scored 482 runs at an average of 43.81 and took 19 wickets; this was his last regular cricket until 1929. He declined an invitation to tour South Africa with an MCC team, and work limited him to two first-class games for Middlesex in 1928. Through Vivian Hugh Smith, the father of some old school-mates, Allen had the opportunity to work in France. He moved to Lyons for 18 months to work for a silk company. 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. The latter subsequently offered Allen work