on his record sixth tour of Australia and opened the England innings in the second Test at Perth a few days after his arrival and without any match practice. Denness's form deserted him for most of the tour and he became the first captain to drop himself from a Test match, but returned to make 188 and win the Sixth Test by an innings, the highest score by an England captain in Australia. Umpiring Ian Chappell ... made it clear more than once that he regarded the control of his side on the field as the concern solely of the umpires. Poor wretched men! I wonder what Ian thought might have happened if either Tom Brooks or Robin Bailhache had applied the full sanction of Law 46, and had banned either Lillee or Thomson on that emotion-charged Sunday afternoon. How many beer-cans might have bespattered the field, and angry spectators invaded the playing area? As it was the umpires contented themselves with friendly warnings afterwards described as 'unofficial'. In the circumstances it was hard to blame them. E.W. Swanton The umpires in all six Tests were Tom Brooks, who had made his debut four years previously in 1970–71, and Robin Bailhache, who made his debut in the First Test at Brisbane. Brooks had been a fast-medium bowler for New South Wales and was forgiving of short-pitched deliveries which he saw as a natural part of the game. This helped England in 1970–71 when they had the fast bowlers John Snow and Bob Willis, but not in 1974–75. The only real point of contention in the series was the intimidatory bowling, particularly by Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson of Australia, but also Bob Willis, Tony Greig and Peter Lever of England. As the series progressed the touring team and English press thought that the Australian umpires failed to apply Law 46; 'The persistent bowling of fast short-pitched balls at the batsman is unfair if, in the opinion of the umpire at the bowler's end, it constitutes a systematic attempt at intimidation'. Traditionally it was the job of the captain to restrain his bowlers if they became too aggressive, but Ian Chappell refused to do so and the Australian umpires were loath to give them official warnings. To be fair Chappell "employed almost the identical tactics used by Illingworth and Snow in 1970–71". Keith Fletcher and John Edrich (twice each), Dennis Amiss,