Test Cricket Tours - England to Australia 1974-75

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Tour of Australia & New Zealand 1974-75 Captain : Mike Denness

England’s 53rd Test tour.

( 1974 - March 1975)

28th Test-playing tour of Australia by England

Tenth Test-playing tour of NZ

(previous tours 1970-71)

A gulf between the two sides was created by the two Australian fast bowlers, Lillee and Thomson. Their fearsome short-pitched bowling cut through England’s batting order at Brisbane and Perth, and enabled Australia to regain the Ashes by the time of the fourth Test match at Sydney. This was the match in which Denness stood down, the first MCC tour captain in Australia to miss a Test because he was out of form - previously, Chapman (1928-29 tour) and Hammond (1946-47) had done so but were unfit.

As in 1973-74, the selection panel had turned down Denness's wish to include John Snow in the team. Geoff Boycott who had been left out of the Test matches during the summer at his own request, never accepted the invitation to tour. Both players, the stars of the 1970-71 side, were badly missed.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

West Indies 1973-74

Next Test tour

India 1976-77

Next tour of Australia

1978-79

Members of the Test tour party (16 + 2)

Opening batsmen: David Lloyd, Brian Luckhurst, John Edrich.

Middle-order batsmen Dennis Amiss, Keith Fletcher, Mike Denness

Wicket-keeper: Alan Knott, Bob Taylor

All-rounders: Tony Greig

Slow bowlers: Derek Underwood, Fred Titmus

Fast bowlers: Peter Lever, Geoff Arnold, Chris Old, Bob Willis, Mike Hendrick

D L Amiss	Wk	30	RHB
G G Arnold	Sy	29	RFM
G Boycott w/d	Yo	32	RHB opener
M H Denness	Kt	32	RHB captain
J H Edrich	Sy	37	LHB opener vice-captain
K W R Fletcher	Ex	29	RHB
A W Greig	Sx	27	RHB RFM
M Hendrick	Dy	24	RFM
A P E Knott	Kt	27	WK
P Lever	La	34	RFM
D Lloyd	La	27	LHB opener	Not to NZ
B W Luckhurst added	Kt	35	RHB opener
C M Old	Yo	24	RFM
R W Taylor	Dy	32	reserve WK
F J Titmus	Mx	42	OB
D L Underwood	Kt	28	SLA
R G D Willis	Sy	24	RF	Not to NZ

County representation:

Dy – Derbyshire (2)

Ex - Essex (1)

Kt - Kent (4)

La - Lancashire (2)

Mx - Middlesex (1)

Sy - Surrey (3)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (1)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(29 November 1974) :

31 yrs 4 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Cowdrey 109, Edrich 65, Knott 61, Titmus 49, Underwood 47, Fletcher 39, Amiss 32, Greig 30, Arnold 27, Denness 20, Luckhurst 19, Old 18, Lever 12, Willis 11, Hendrick 5, Lloyd 5, Wood 5, Taylor 1.

Tour Officials

Alec Bedser	Tour Manager
Alan Smith	Assistant Manager
Bernard Thomas	Physiotherapist

Selectors

Alec Bedser (chairman), Jack Bond, C.G.A.(Cecil) Paris, Mike Denness (captain), Brian Taylor, Ossie Wheatley and Gubby Allen who took a place on the selection committee because Doug Insole was on holiday.

Selection

The captain and manager were named on 23 August 1974.

Unavailable :

Tour party announced : 28 August 1974

Fred Titmus was chosen for the first time since injury to his toes in the West Indies in 1968. The selectors said they debated taking a batsman who could keep wicket instead of Taylor, and of omitting one of the fast bowlers

Not selected: Phil Edmonds.

Withdrawn: Geoffrey Boycott. It was announced on 24 September that he had withdrawn from the tour for personal reasons, and that Brian Luckhurst would go instead. Luckhurst, relaxing on holiday in Spain, had to hurry back to England when he heard the news that he would be touring in his place.

Time between selection and departure from England

54 days

(28 August - 21 October)

Travel

London Q Sydney

On 21 October the team flew from Heathrow Airport, via Frankfurt and Beirut to Sydney Airport, and thence to Adelaide where they arrived on 23 October. The flight took 36 hours. They stayed in Adelaide until the first match. Denness was confined to bed with a sore throat, later diagnosed as a virus.

Time spent in Australia

114 days

(23 October - 14 February)

Time spent in New Zealand

On-tour selection panel

Mike Denness (captain), John Edrich (vice-captain), Alec Bedser, Alan Smith, Alan Knott.

24 days

(14 February - 10 March)

Reinforcements

M C Cowdrey

Kt

41

RHB

Not to NZ

B Wood

La

32

RHB opener RM

Only to NZ

41 year-old Colin Cowdrey was chosen by the tour committee on 4 December because batsmen Dennis Amiss (thumb) and John Edrich (hand) were unfit.

Barry Wood joined the New Zealand part of the tour when Lloyd (neck injury), Willis (knee) and Cowdrey returned home. Wood joined the tour from West Indies where he had been with an English counties side.

Owing to injury in New Zealand, manager Alan Smith played once, and a West Australian colt, Peter Brondson, turned out for MCC when Hendrick was in hospital with a throat infection.

Denness missed early matches with a virus. Edrich cracked a rib

Fixtures/Results

a	† Port Lincoln	South Australia Country	Drawn
b	Adelaide	South Australia	Drawn
c	† Warrnambool	Victoria Country XI	Drawn
d	Melbourne	Victoria	Drawn
e	† Canberra	Capital Territory Country XI	Drawn
f	Sydney	New South Wales	Won 6 w
g	† Nambour	Queensland Country XI	Abandoned
h	Brisbane	Queensland	Won 46 r
i	† Southport	South-East Queensland	Won 10 w
j	BRISBANE	AUSTRALIA First Test	LOST 166 r
k	Perth	Western Australia	Lost 120 r
l	† Geraldton	West Australia Country XI	Drawn
m	PERTH	AUSTRALIA Second Test	LOST 9 w
n	Adelaide	South Australia	Drawn
o	MELBOURNE	AUSTRALIA Third Test	DRAWN
p	† Melbourne	Australia (ODI)	Won 3 w
q	SYDNEY	AUSTRALIA Fourth Test	LOST 171 r
r	Hobart	Tasmania	Drawn
s	Launceston	Tasmania	Won inns 72
t	Sydney	New South Wales	Won 187 r
u	ADELAIDE	AUSTRALIA Fifth Test	LOST 163 r
v	† Newcastle	Northern New South Wales	Won 4 w
w	† Melbourne	New Zealand (ODI)	Lost 66 r
x	MELBOURNE	AUSTRALIA Sixth Test	WON inns 4
y	Wellington	Wellington	Drawn
z	AUCKLAND	NEW ZEALAND First Test	WON inns 83
a’	CHRISTCHURCH	NEW ZEALAND Second Test	DRAWN
b’	† Wellington	New Zealand XI	Drawn
c’	† Wellington	New Zealand XI	Drawn
d’	† Hong Kong	Hong Kong President's XI	Won 84 r
e’	† Hong Kong	Hong Kong XI	Won inns 102

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test: 37 days

(23 October - 29 November)

Test appearances on tour

(v Australia & NZ 74-75)

8 - Greig, Knott.

7 - Amiss, Denness, Fletcher, Underwood.

6 - Arnold, Edrich.

5 - Willis.

4 - Cowdrey, Lever, Lloyd, Titmus.

3 - Hendrick, Old.

2 - Luckhurst, Wood.

1 -

0 - Taylor.

Match appearances

T Test match

o one-day international

x other match

W won L lost D drawn T tied

N no result A abandoned

C cancelled u unknown result

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

w

x

y

z

a’

b’

c’

d’

e’

D L Amiss

G G Arnold

M C Cowdrey

M H Denness

J H Edrich

K W Fletcher

A W Greig

M Hendrick

A P E Knott

P Lever

D Lloyd

B Luckhurst

C M Old

R W Taylor

F J Titmus

D Underwood

R G D Willis

B Wood

R E S U L T S

England’s six previous Test tour results

Highlights

• T

•

•

•

Tour Summary

	F	W	L	D	Aban
Test Matches	8	2	4	2	-
Other first-class matches	10	4	1	5	-
†Minor matches	13	5	1	6	1
All Matches	31	11	6	13	1

F Fixtures W Won L Lost D Drawn T Tied Canc Cancelled Aban abandoned

Return to England

Auckland Q Hong Kong Q London

After the Australian tour three players returned to London. Colin Cowdrey had not in any case been engaged for New Zealand. David Lloyd arrived on 11 February, Bob Willis on 17 February. The rest of the tour party reached Wellington on 14 February.

Leaving New Zealand from Auckland on 10 March, the MCC party arrived at Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong, that night. They left again for London on 14 March. Greig went to South Africa to join the D.H.Robins tour.

Time away from England

x days

(21 October - 15 March

Finances

Accounts of the tour

“Assault on the Ashes" Christopher Martin-Jenkins (Macdonald & Janes, 1975)

"Test of Nerve" Frank Tyson (Manark Pty Ltd, Victoria, 1975)

"Swanton in Australia with M.C.C.", dealing with eight post-War M.C.C. tours of Australia, includes his remarks on the 1974-75 tour (Fontana, 1977)

Postscript

Tony Greig was exonerated after making criticisms of the team selection and explaining his comments to the M.C.C.

Despite the M.C.C. team's relatively advanced age, and its failure to cope with the Australian batting or bowling, there was no purge. After the tour the selectors discarded only Lever, Lloyd, Luckhurst, Cowdrey and Titmus. All the others represented England again. However, all the selectors except Alec Bedser were replaced.

Other Test tours in 1974-75

West Indians to India and Pakistan 1974-75 - captain Clive Lloyd

Acknowledgements

To general reading of The Times newspaper digital archive (Gale Group); Jamaica Gleanor archive; National Library of Australia Trove; Papers Past NZ.

From former British Newspaper Library, Colindale and online: The Age, Melbourne Argus, Bangladesh Daily Star, Barbados Advocate, Canberra Times, Daily Telegraph, Dawn, Eastern Daily Press, The Hindu, The Independent (Dhaka), Indian Express, The Island (Lanka), Lahore Times, New Nation, New Zealand Auckland Herald, Sri Lanka Daily News, Stabroek News, Straits Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Telegraph (Calcutta), Times of India , The Tribune Chandigarh, Trinidad Guardian, The West Australian.

cricketweb.net; ESPN cricinfo; cricket archive; www.cricketcountry; www.coverpoint

Magazines/periodicals including Australian Cricket, B & H West Indies Annual, The Cricketer International, Cricketer Quarterly, Indian Cricket, Indian Cricket Field Annual, Playfair Cricket Monthly, Shell Cricket Almanack of New Zealand, Wisden Cricket Monthly, Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack.

Men In White, A History of Australian Cricket (Harte), A History of Indian Cricket (Bose), A History of West Indies Cricket (Manley)

Biography and tour books (own collection and at the M.C.C. Library at Lord’s Ground) ALL CONTENTS OF THE TEST-CRICKET-TOURS.CO.UK WEBSITE ARE COPYRIGHT

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