Test Cricket Tours - Australia to England 1964

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Tour of England, India & Pakistan 1964 Captain: Bob Simpson

29th Australian Test tour

23rd Test-playing tour of England by Australia

(April - October 1964)

The first Australian squad to make any cricket tour for three years was another to be condemned as the weakest side to leave Australia, but they retained the Ashes, winning the Test series by one Test match to nil. The shrewd skipper, Bob Simpson, having seen Peter Burge score the century that created an Australian victory at Headingley, made the Ashes safe himself by grinding out a triple century on a dead pitch that ensured the match at Old Trafford was a draw.

It was a disappointingly dull, rain-affected series that had promised much but never took fire. The closely-cut, slow pitches mostly played too well for the bowlers to take wickets.

Similarly to the end of the 1956 tour of England, the tourists were allowed a recreational fortnight on the continent before flying to the Indian sub-continent for four further Test matches.

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

England 1961

Next tour

West Indies 1964-65

Next tour of England

1968

Members of the Test tour party (17)

Opening batsmen: Bill Lawry, Ian Redpath, Bob Simpson

Middle-order batsmen: Norman O’Neill, Peter Burge, Brian Booth, Bob Cowper, Jack Potter

Wicket-keepers: Wally Grout, Barry Jarman

Spin bowlers: Johnny Martin, Tom Veivers, Rex Sellers.

Fast bowlers: Alan Connolly, Graham McKenzie, Graham Corling, Neil Hawke.

B C Booth	NSW	30	RHB vice-captain
P J P Burge	Qld	32	RHB
A N Connolly	Vic	24	RFM
G E Corling	NSW	22	RFM
R M Cowper	Vic	23	LHB OB
A T W Grout	Qld	37	WK
N J N Hawke	SA	25	RFM
B N Jarman	SA	28	deputy WK
W M Lawry	Vic	27	LHB opener
G D McKenzie	WA	22	RF
J W Martin	NSW	32	SLA
N C O'Neill	NSW	27	RHB LB
J T Potter	Vic	26	RHB LB
I R Redpath	Vic	23	RHB
R H D Sellers	SA	23	LBG
R B Simpson	NSW	28	RHB opener LBG captain
T R Veivers	Qld	27	OB

State representation

Sheffield Shield teams

NSW New South Wales (5)

Qld Queensland (3)

SA South Australia (3)

Tas Tasmania (0)

Vic Victoria (5)

WA Western Australia (1)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(4 June 1964) :

27 yrs 4 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Grout 34, O'Neill 32, Burge 29, Simpson 26, Lawry 15, McKenzie 13, Booth 11, Hawke 5, Jarman 4, Martin 4, Connolly 3, Veivers 3, Redpath 1, Corling 0, Cowper 0, Potter 0, Sellers 0.

Tour Officials

Ray Steele	Manager
John Ledward	Assistant manager
Dave Sherwood	Scorer/Baggage
Arthur James	Masseur
Bernie Gallagher	Driver

Ray Steele, who was Treasurer on the 1961 tour, was appointed manager. J A Ledward was a former Victorian player.

B D Jagens was appointed liaison officer to the Australian team in Pakistan

Selectors

Sir Donald Bradman (South Australia), Dudley Seddon (New South Wales), Jack Ryder (Victoria)

The touring party was chosen at the end of the Australia-South Africa series.

Selection

Unavailable: Since Australia's last Ashes series, Benaud, Davidson, Harvey and Mackay had all gone into retirement.

Tour Party Announced : 13 February 1964.

Not selected : Barry Shepherd, Graham Thomas, Ian Chappell, Ray Gaunt.

Time between selection and departure from Australia

56 days

(13 February - 9 April)

Travel

Fremantle T Colombo Q

‘Orcades’

Bombay Q London Heathrow

After matches in Tasmania and Perth, the team sailed on the 'Orcades' on 9 April, the last Test touring party to use a ship to travel.

They played a match in Ceylon (15 April), then flew from Bombay on 17 April. arriving at Heathrow Airport on 19 April.

Several team members had exceeded their baggage allowance and their gear had to be flown by a later freight plane. The team was based at the Waldorf Hotel, London, and spent ten days' in practice at Lord's.

Time spent in England

150 days

(19 April - 16 September)

On-tour selection

Bob Simpson (captain), Brian Booth (vice-captain), Bill Lawry.

Reinforcements

None. Rex Sellers was out of action for the first month of the tour with a cyst on the finger on his bowling hand. Alan Connolly was hampered throughout the tour by a back strain, and Norman O’Neill for some of it with a similar complaint.

In the match against Holland Jack Pottter fractured his skull and took no further part in the tour.

Fixtures/Results

The Australians did not agree to an extra fixture after the fourth Test.

a	“ Hobart	Tasmania(2-day)	Drawn
b	“ Launceston	Tasmania(2-day)	Drawn
c	Perth	Western Australia	Won 8 w
d	“ Colombo	Ceylon(1-day)	Drawn
e	“ Arundel	Duke of Norfolk's XI (1-day)	Won 4 w
f	Worcester	Worcestershire	Drawn
g	Bristol	Gloucestershire	Won 10 w
h	Taunton	Somerset	Won 172 r
i	Kennington Oval	Surrey	Drawn
j	Trent Bridge	Nottinghamshire	Drawn
k	Cardiff	Glamorgan	Drawn
l	Cambridge	Cambridge University	Drawn
m	Lord's	M.C.C.	Won 9 w
n	Oxford	Oxford University	Won inns 120 r
o	Old Trafford	Lancashire	Drawn
p	TRENT BRIDGE	ENGLAND First Test	DRAWN
q	Derby	Derbyshire	Drawn
r	Sheffield	Yorkshire	Drawn
s	LORD'S	ENGLAND Second Test	DRAWN
t	“ Bedford	Minor Counties (2-day)	Won inns 26 r
u	Northampton	Northamptonshire	Won 10 w
v	HEADINGLEY	ENGLAND Third Test	WON
w	Leicester	Leicestershire	Drawn
x	Southampton	Hampshire	Drawn
y	Hove	Sussex	Won 63 r
z	Lord's	Middlesex	Drawn
a’	OLD TRAFFORD	ENGLAND Fourth Test	DRAWN
b’	none arranged	Young England(60 overs)	cancelled
c’	Swansea	Glamorgan	Lost 36 r
d’	Edgbaston	Warwickshire	Lost 9 r
e’	Bradford	Yorkshire	Won 81 r
f’	KENNINGTON OVAL	ENGLAND Fifth Test	DRAWN
g’	Lord's	President of MCC's XI	Drawn
h’	Southend	Essex	Lost 6 w
I’	Canterbury	Kent	Drawn
j’	“ Den Haag	Holland	Lost 3 w
k’	Hastings	A.E.R.Gilligan's XI	Won 2 w
l’	Scarborough	T.N.Pearce's XI	Won 7 w
m’	“ Titwood	Scotland(2-day)	Drawn
n’	“ Aberdeen	Scotland(2-day)	Drawn
o’	“ Hove	Sussex (1-day, 50 overs)	Won 66 r
p’	MADRAS	INDIA First Test	WON 139 r
q’	BOMBAY	INDIA Second Test	LOST 2 w
r’	CALCUTTA	INDIA Third Test	DRAWN
s’	KARACHI	PAKISTAN First Test	DRAWN

“ not first-class

Time spent in England before First Test:

46 days

(19 April - 4 June)

Test appearances on tour

(v England 1964)

5 - Booth, Burge, Corling, Grout, Hawke, Lawry, McKenzie, Redpath, Simpson, Veivers.

4 - O'Neill

1 - Cowper.

0 - Connolly, Jarman, Martin, Potter, Sellers.

(v India & Pakistan 1964-65)

4 - Booth, Burge, Lawry, McKenzie, Simpson, Veivers.

3 - Cowper, Martin, Redpath

2 - Connolly, Grout, Hawke, Jarman, O'Neill.

1 - Sellers.

0 - Corling, Potter.

Highlights

- Graham McKenzie took 5-53 in England’s second innings at Trent Bridge.

- Peter Burge (160) hit Australia out of trouble at Headingley and created a winning position.

- Bob Simpson scored his first Test century at Old Trafford and turned it into a triple century (311)

- He and Bill Lawry (106) shared an opening partnership of 201, a new first-wicket record against England.

- The Australian total of 656-8 declared at Old Trafford also included an innings of 98 by Brian Booth.

- Graham McKenzie took 7-153 at Old Trafford and equalled Grimmett’s record of 29 wickets in the series.

Tour Summary

	P	W	L	D	Aban	Cancelled
Test Matches	9	2	1	6	-	-
Other first-class matches in England	25	10	3	12	-	-
in Australia	1	1	0	0	-	-
ϯ Minor matches in England ⋆	8	3	1	2	-	2
pre-tour	3	0	0	3
All Matches	46	16	5	23	-	2

⋆ including one match in Holland

Return to Australia

London Q Madras

Karachi Q Sydney

Jack Potter had not played since fracturing his skull in a match in Holland, and left London for Australia by air on Monday 14 September.

The tour party flew from Heathrow Airport, London, on 16 September and took a fortnight's holiday in Europe.

They joined the plane from London at Rome and had a rough welcome to India, flying through an electrical storm over the mountains when a bolt of lightning hit the plane wing and threw some players from their seats. After a brief stopover in Bombay, they landed in Madras on 29 September for the first Test against India.

The third Test of the Indian section of the tour finished with two rained-off days at Calcutta on 22 September and they flew off to Pakistan. The team flew into Karachi in the early hours of Friday 23 October, and stayed at the city’s Hotel Metropole.

Norman O'Neill left for home on Thursday 22 October from Bombay. Manager Ray Steele had to explain it was for reasons of illness, not for indiscipline as had been reported in an Indian newspaper.

Leaving Karachi on the morning of 30 October, the team flew by BOAC, via Singapore, and landed in Sydney on Saturday 31 October.

Time away from Australia

205 days

(9 April to 31 October)

Finances

Overall, the whole tour of England, India and Pakistan made a profit of £42 000.

Written accounts of the tour

"Test Matches of 1964" by Denzil Batchelor (Epworth Press, 1964)

"The Australians in England 1964" by John Clarke (Stanley Paul, 1964)

"Test Diary 1964" by Denis Compton (Nicholas Kaye, 1964)

"Simpson's Australians" by E M Wellings (Robert Hale, 1964)

Postscript

"Tremendous team spirit developed under the leadership of Simpson and Booth, his able deputy," wrote Neil Hawke in ‘Bowled Over’

Grahame Corling played in all five matches in his maiden Test series but did not represent Australia again though he continued to play first-class state cricket until 1969.

The pointlessness of touring England for a further month after the fifth Test, when there were still four Test matches to be played in India and Pakistan, should have made the Australian Board realise the wear and strain on players. But this practice continued for many years to come.