|
|
Tour of England
1974 Captain: Ajit Wadekar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
India’s fourteenth Test tour
Eighth Test-playing tour of England by India
(April - July 1974)
|
After winning their last
two series against England, India crashed to a painful 3-0 defeat, finding
that English conditions pitilessly exposed the shortcomings of a team that
relied too heavily on its four world-class spin bowlers. While the chilly,
wet weather acted against their spin bowling strength, they did not have
fast-medium bowlers of the calibre that England had to take advantage of
the seaming pitches. Halfway through the tour the Indians seemed resigned
to defeat and gave an inept display in the Tests.
When the weather improved it was England who
benefitted at Lord's with their highest innings score since the Second
World War while India, following-on in reply, were dismissed for 42, their
lowest total in any Test match
Off the field there was a
lack of unity. The squad became
involved in a public row when they were told they would not be admitted for
arriving late at a High Commission reception. Later a member of the team
was arrested for shoplifting.
Wadekar was retained as captain
after an indifferent season in India. He had to accept responsibility for
the defeat but the whole team became apprehensive about the reception they
would face on returning home and returned in separate groups by different
routes.
An investigative committee,
set up on 20 August, decided in December not to distribute any bonus
payments to members of the team. By
then Wadekar had resolved to retire from the
first-class game and Pataudi regained the Test
captaincy.
|
Other Indian tours
Previous tour
England
1971
Next tour
New
Zealand 1975-76
Next tour of England
1979
|
|
|
|
Members of the Test tour
party (16)
Opening batsmen: Gopal Bose, Sunil Gavaskar, Sudhir Naik.
Middle-order batsmen: Ajit Wadekar, Ashok Mankad, Brijesh Patel, Gundappa Viswanath
Wicket-keepers:Farokh Engineer, Syed Kirmani
Spinners: Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna,
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Srinivas Venkataraghaven
Fast bowlers:Abid Ali, Eknath Solkar,
Madan Lal.
|
|
S Abid
Ali
|
Hd / S
|
32
|
RM
|
|
|
|
|
B S Bedi
|
D / N
|
27
|
SLA
|
|
|
|
|
G K Bose
|
Bn / E
|
27
|
RHB opener
|
|
|
|
|
B S Chandrasekhar
|
K / S
|
29
|
LBG
|
|
|
|
|
F M Engineer
|
B / W
|
36
|
RHB opener WK
|
|
|
|
|
S M Gavaskar
|
B / W
|
24
|
RHB opener
|
|
|
|
|
S M H Kirmani
|
K / S
|
24
|
Reserve WK
|
|
|
|
|
S Madan Lal
|
D / N
|
23
|
RFM
|
|
|
|
|
A V Mankad
|
B / W
|
27
|
RHB
|
|
|
|
|
S S
Naik
|
B / W
|
29
|
RHB opener
|
|
|
|
|
B P Patel
|
K / S
|
21
|
RHB
|
|
|
|
|
E A S Prasanna
|
K / S
|
34
|
OB
|
|
|
|
|
E D Solkar
|
B / W
|
26
|
LHB LM
|
|
|
|
|
S Venkataraghaven
|
TN / S
|
28
|
OB vice-captain
|
|
|
|
|
G R Viswanath
|
K / S
|
25
|
RHB
|
|
|
|
|
A L Wadekar
|
B / W
|
33
|
RHB captain
|
|
|
|
|
Zonal representation
Duleep Trophy teams
C: Central (0), E: East (1), N: North (2), S:
South (7), W: West (6)
Ranji Trophy teams
Ba - Bengal (1)
B -
Bombay (6)
D - Delhi (2)
H - Hyderabad (1)
K - Karnataka (5)
TN - Tamil Nadu (1)
Mysore State was renamed Karnataka in 1973
Average age of team at time of first Test match
(6 June 1974) :
28
yrs 2 months.
|
|
|
|
Test Appearances made before the tour
|
Engineer 38, Wadekar 34, Bedi 32, Prasanna
28, Abid Ali 24, Chandrasekhar 24, Venkataraghaven 24, Solkar
18, Viswanath 15, Mankad 13, Gavaskar
12, Bose 0, Kirmani 0, Madan Lal 0, Naik 0, Patel 0.
|
|
|
|
|
Tour Officials
|
|
Lt-Col Hemu R Adhikari
|
Tour Manager
|
|
B C Mohanty
|
Treasurer
|
|
M M
Amersay
|
Liaison officer
|
|
Tony Smith
|
Baggage / transport
|
|
|
|
|
|
Selectors
|
Ajit
Wadekar was confirmed as captain on 25 March and
joined the panel of
C.D.Gopinath (chairman), Hemu Adhikari, Raj
Singh and Dattu
Phadkar,which met at Jaipur.
|
|
|
|
|
Selection
|
The appointment of tour
manager Colonel Adhikari was announced on
29 December 1973.
Unavailable: Dilip Sardesai had retired. Wadekar
asked Nawab of Pataudi
to tour because he had experience of playing county cricket in England but
he declined.
Tour Party Announced : 27 March 1974.
It
was confirmed on 10 April that Engineer would be a full member of the tour
party. The English counties
cooperated by releasing the three professionals, Bedi,
Engineer and Venkat, for the whole tour.
Not Selected : P M Salgaonkar
(Maharashtra)
|
Time between selection and departure from India
19 days
(27 March - 15 April)
|
|
|
|
Travel
Bombay Q London
|
The team flew out of Bombay on 15 April 1974,
arriving at London’s Heathrow Airport the next day,16
April 1974.
Engineer did not travel with the team but joined
them from his home in Lancashire once his torn ankle ligament injury had
healed.
|
Time spent in England
92 days
(16 April- 17 July)
|
|
|
|
On-tour selection committee
|
Ajit Wadekar (captain),
Hemu Adhikari (manager), Srinivas Venkataraghaven
|
|
|
|
|
Reinforcements
|
None, although Chandrasekhar was unable to play for
the last month of the tour. He injured a thumb in the Second Test which put
an end to his tour appearances. Salgaonkar, a fast bowler from Bombay, was available.
He was on a three -month coaching course at Alf Gover's
cricket school and had previously made a successful tour of Sri Lanka.
|
|
|
|
|
Fixtures/Results
|
|
Eastbourne
|
D.H.Robins XI
|
Drawn
|
|
Worcester
|
Worcestershire
|
Drawn
|
|
Taunton
|
Somerset
|
Drawn
|
|
Southampton
|
Hampshire
|
Drawn
|
|
Leicester
|
Leicestershire
|
Drawn
|
|
Bradford
|
Yorkshire
|
Drawn
|
|
Old Trafford
|
Lancashire
|
Drawn
|
|
Lord's
|
M.C.C.
|
Drawn
|
|
Northampton
|
Northamptonshire
|
Drawn
|
|
Chelmsford
|
Essex
|
Drawn
|
|
The Oval
|
Surrey
|
Won 10 w
|
|
Derby
|
Derbyshire
|
Won 8 w
|
|
OLD TRAFFORD
|
ENGLAND First Test
|
LOST 113 r
|
|
Oxford
|
Combined Universities
|
Won 59 r
|
|
Gloucester
|
Gloucestershire
|
Won 5 w
|
|
LORD'S
|
ENGLAND Second Test
|
LOST 285 r
|
|
†Osterley
|
Indian Gymkhana
|
Abandoned
|
|
Trent Bridge
|
Nottinghamshire
|
Drawn
|
|
EDGBASTON
|
ENGLAND Third Test
|
LOST inns 78 r
|
|
†Coatbridge
|
Scotland
|
Won 7 w
|
|
§ Headingley
|
England (1st ODI)
|
Lost 4 w
|
|
§ The Oval
|
England (2nd ODI)
|
Lost 6 w
|
|
|
|
|
|
†not first-class
§ one-day international
Time spent in England
before First Test:
51 days
(16 April - 6 June)
|
|
|
|
Test appearances on tour
|
3 - Abid
Ali, Bedi, Engineer, Gavaskar,
Solkar, Viswanath, Wadekar.
2 - Chandrasekhar, Madan Lal, Patel,
Prasanna, Venkataraghaven.
1 - Mankad, Naik
0 - Bose, Kirmani.
|
|
|
|
|
Highlights
|
•
• At
Old Trafford Sunil Gavaskar scored 101 and
58.
• India
were dismissed for 42 in the Lord’s Test, their lowest total in Test
cricket.
|
|
|
|
|
Tour Summary
|
|
|
P
|
W
|
L
|
D
|
Aban
|
|
Test Matches
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
-
|
|
Other first-class matches
|
15
|
4
|
0
|
11
|
-
|
|
ϯ Minor matches
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
§ One-day internationals
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
-
|
|
All Matches
|
21
|
5
|
5
|
11
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Return to India
London Q
|
The team departed from Heathrow Airport, London, on
Wednesday 17 July.
Bedi, Engineer and Venkataraghaven returned to their English county sides.
Abid Ali remained in England with his
brothers. Patel went to the United
States, and Wadekar and his wife to Europe for a
month's holiday. The manager went to Lusaka in Africa for a coaching
appointment.
|
Time away from India
93 days
(15 April to 17 July)
|
|
|
|
Finances
|
Globtik Tankers awarded England
£1800 for winning the Test series while the Indians got £600.
|
|
|
|
|
Accounts of the tour
|
|
|
|
|
|
Postscript
|
The fickle Indian fans,wildly
enthusiastic in 1971, now demonstrated their disapproval of the team on
arriving back in Bombay, The media
reported that they hounded and abused the players, stoned Wadekar’s house (which Wadekar
said was untrue because he lived in a 4th floor flat), and
painted black the huge cricket bat at Indore symbolising India’s 1971
triumph. Wadekar soon gave up cricket, although
he potentially had years of cricket left in him.
|
|
|