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Tour
of India 1979-80
Captain: Kim Hughes
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Forty-first Australian Test tour
Fifth Test-playing tour of India by the Australian
team
(August
-
November 1979)
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This tour took place unusually early in
the Indian season to allow the team to return home in time for the first
'twin tour' season in Australia. This meant that play was frequently
interrupted by the monsoon rain.
The tour was needed to get India to
defer their own tour to Australia until 1980-81, which allowed the
Australian Board to invite the West Indies back for the first season since
the settlement with Packer (whereby Channel Nine was granted exclusive
rights to televise Test cricket) It compensated for the
postponement of India's tour of Australia but had been arranged well
beforehand, in May 1978.
Many of Australia's leading players
were still absent because the tour party had been chosen before the final
settlement between World Series Cricket and the Australian Cricket Board.
The more experienced tourists, Hughes, Border and Dymock,
helped keep the margin of defeat down to two-nil. This result was neither a
surprise nor an ignominy considering that ten of the touring party had
never represented their country abroad before. However, none of the first-class matches
was won.
The tour went ahead though it was put
in doubt at the start when the London High Commission received intelligence
that the team would be targeted if they played their first match in the
disputed territory of Kashmir.
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Other Australian Tours
Previous tour
West Indies 1977-78
Next tour
Pakistan 1979-80
Next tour of India
1986-87
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Members of the Test tour party (15
+ 1)
Opening batsmen:
Graeme Wood, Rick Darling, Andrew Hilditch
Middle-order batsmen:
Allan Border, Kim Hughes, Graham Yallop, Dav Whatmore
Wicket-keeper:
Kim Wright
Spin bowlers: Jim Higgs, Bruce Yardley, Peter Sleep
Fast bowlers:
Geoff Dymock,
Alan Hurst (replaced by Geoff
Lawson), Rodney Hogg, Graeme Porter.
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A
R Border
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NSW
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24
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LHB
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W
M Darling
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SA
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22
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RHB
opener
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The
openers were expected to play an important role but Darling, Hilditch and Wood struggled the whole way
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G
Dymock
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Qld
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33
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LFM
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J
D Higgs
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Vic
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29
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LBG
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A
M J Hilditch
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NSW
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23
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RHB opener
vice-captain
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R
M Hogg
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SA
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28
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RF
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Disappointing.
He took too long to get to grips with the conditions
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K
J Hughes
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WA
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25
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RHB captain
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Hughes
had the highest run-scoring aggregate on the tour
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A
G Hurst
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Vic
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29
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RF
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G
D Porter
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WA
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24
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RHB RM
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P
R Sleep
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SA
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22
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LBG
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D
F Whatmore
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Vic
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25
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RHB
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G
M Wood
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WA
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22
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LHB
opener
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K
J Wright
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WA
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25
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WK
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G
N Yallop
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Vic
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26
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LHB
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B
Yardley
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WA
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32
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OB
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State representation
Sheffield Shield teams
NSW New South Wales (2)
Qld Queensland (1)
SA South Australia (3)
Tas Tasmania (0)
Vic Victoria (4)
WA Western Australia (5)
Average
age of team at time of first Test
match
(12
September 1979) :
26 yrs 3 months.
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Test Appearances made before the tour
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Yallop
15, Wood 13, Hughes 11, Yardley 11, Hurst 10,
Darling 9, Higgs 9, Hogg 8,
Dymock 8,
Border 5, Wright 4, Hilditch
3, Whatmore
2, Sleep 1, Lawson 0,
Porter 0.
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Tour officials
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The manager Bob Merriman, a labour
relations manager with Ford, was Secretary of the Victorian Country Cricket
Association. He became Chairman of the Australian Cricket Board 2001-2005.
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Robert
Merriman
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Manager
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Frank
Hennessy
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Physiotherapist
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Selectors
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Sam
Loxton (Victoria), Ray Lindwall (Queensland)
and Phil
Ridings (South Australia) chose the team.
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Selection
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Unavailable: Only players who took part in last
season's Sheffield Shield programme were
considered for selection, which ruled out former WSC players.
Tour
Party Announced : 18 July 1979.
The
names were given out shortly after the return of the World Cup squad from
England.
The
captain and vice-captain were named on 19 July.
Only
one wicket-keeper (Wright) was chosen. Yallop
would be the reserve keeper, if needed.
Not selected
: Peter Toohey, and three of the World Cup team Trevor
Laughlin, Jeff Moss and Gary Cosier.
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Time between selection and departure from
Australia
34 days
(18 July - 21 August
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Travel
Sydney
Q
Madras
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Departure
was on 21 August 1979. The team flew
from Sydney, via Perth and Singapore. The plane had to return to Singapore when,
one hour out, the Air India Boeing-747 lost power in one of its four
engines. The team finally reached Meenam Bakkam airport, Madras, at midnight on 22/23 August.
The
team flew to Srinagar for its first match amidst strict security, being met
by dozens of armed police at the airport, whisked away to the hotel and so
on, following threats from the Pakistan-based Jammu and Kashmir Liberation
Front.
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Time spent in India
77 days
(23 August - 8 November)
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On-tour selection panel
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Kim
Hughes (captain),
Andrew Hilditch (vice-captain), Graham Yallop.
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Reinforcements
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On
16 October it was decided that Alan Hurst who had suffered a back injury
would be repatriated for treatment after the Kanpur Test. NSW fast bowler Geoff
Lawson
was summoned as a replacement.
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Fixtures/Results
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a
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Srinagar
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North
Zone
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Drawn
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b
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Hyderabad
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South
Zone
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Drawn
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c
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MADRAS
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INDIA
First Test
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DRAWN
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d
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BANGALORE
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INDIA
Second Test
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DRAWN
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e
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Nagpur
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Central
Zone
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Drawn
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f
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KANPUR
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INDIA
Third Test
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LOST
153 r
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g
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Ahmedabad
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West
Zone
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Drawn
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h
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DELHI
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INDIA Fourth Test
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DRAWN
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i
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Cuttack
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East
Zone
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Lost
4 w
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j
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CALCUTTA
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INDIA
Fifth Test
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DRAWN
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k
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BOMBAY
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INDIA
Sixth Test
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LOST
inns 100 r
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†not
first-class
§ one-day international
Time
spent in India before First Test:
20 days
(23 August - 12 September)
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Test appearances on tour
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6 - Border, Higgs,
Hilditch,
Hogg, Hughes, Wright,
Yallop.
5 -
Darling, Dymock, Whatmore
3
- Yardley
2
- Hurst, Sleep,
Wood
0 -
Lawson, Porter.
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Highlights
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•
Border (162) and Hughes (100) shared a partnership of 222 at Madras,
the 3rd wicket record against India
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Jim Higgs took 7 for 143 in an innings in the Madras Test
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Geoff Dymock had 12 wickets in the Kanpur
match, getting all 11 Indian player out.
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Graham Yallop (167) made Australia's
highest individual score in India to date.
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Tour Summary
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P
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W
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L
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D
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Aban
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Test Matches
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6
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0
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2
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4
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-
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Other first-class matches
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5
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0
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1
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4
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-
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ϯ Minor matches
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0
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All Matches
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11
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0
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3
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8
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-
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Return to Australia
Bombay Q
Perth
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On
8 November 1979 the team flew from Santa Cruz Airport, Bombay, on an
18-hour flight via Singapore to Perth, arriving on 9 November.
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Time away from Australia
80 days
(21 August to 9 November)
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Finances
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Accounts of the tour
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Postscript
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Although the players were, for the time
being, members of the Australian national side, many of them felt remote
from what was happening in Australia where other players were, with the new
prospect of higher rewards for top cricketers since the settlement between
Packer and the Australian Board, making their mark in the Sheffield Shield
competition. "They played like young men under sentence of death
which, in cricketing terms, they were." On arriving home Kim Hughes admitted that
too few of his players came up to scratch.
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