 Alverstone replied that he " regretted " Crawford 's views ; the committee respected Crawford as a " brilliant amateur with great experience " , but Crawford had not supported his captain — a prime duty for an amateur . Crawford replied that he had been unaware of the reason for the suspensions of Rushby and Lees — which Alverstone and the committee disputed — and would have supported Leveson Gower , but suggested it was unfair to ask him to captain a weak bowling team and then demand he apologise for preferring not to . He also observed that the players omitted from the team against the Australians had since been restored to the county side , making their exclusion harder to understand in the first place . 
