Tour of Australia 1985-86                   Captain : Jeremy Coney

Twentieth official Test tour.

Third Test-playing  tour of Australia by New Zealand

       (October -

            December 1985)

Before the tour there were five weekend get-togethers and a three-day match (which is included in the tour record below).

New Zealand won a Test match in Australia for the first time and went on to its first Test series victory against Australia. The success owed much to new coach Glenn Turner’s experience used in planning and preparation. Individually, the star performer was Richard Hadlee with 33 wickets in the Test series but he upset team members when he refused to contribute his prize of a new car to the communal fund

The tour lasted only until the beginning of December but most members of the touring party returned to Australia in January to take part in the Benson & Hedges Cup triangular series with India.

All New Zealand tours

Previous tour     

West Indies 1984-85

Next tour    

England 1986

Next tour of Australia 

1987-88

Members of the Test tour party (14  + 2)

Opening batsmen  Bruce Edgar, John Wright, Trevor Franklin

Middle-order batsmen  John F Reid, Martin Crowe, Jeremy Coney, Jeff Crowe

Wicket-keepers  Ian Smith, Erwin McSweeney (reinforce’t)

All-rounder:  Richard Hadlee

Spin bowlers  Stephen Boock, Vaughan Brown, John Bracewell (reinforcement).

Fast bowlers  Ewen Chatfield, Martin Snedden, Lance Cairns

Provincial representation

A - Auckland (4)

C - Canterbury (3)

CD - Central Districts (2)

ND - Northern Districts (1)

O - Otago (1)

W - Wellington (3) 

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(8 November 1985) :  29 yrs  9 months.

137

ODI returned to Australia to play in the Benson & Hedges one-day series

Test Appearances made before the tour

Hadlee 57,  Cairns 42,  Wright 41,  Coney 40,  Edgar 30,  Boock 25,  Smith 25,  Chatfield 23,  MD Crowe 23,  JJ Crowe 20,  Reid 13,  Bracewell 13,  Snedden 10,  Franklin 1, Brown 0,  McSweeney 0.

Team Officials

  *Edwards took over for the second part of the tour. When injured Ian Smith stayed on in an administrative role.

Selectors

Frank Cameron (convenor),  John Guy  and  Don Neely

Selection

Unavailable  : None

Tour Party Announced  : 11 August 1985.

Not selected:  Geoff Howarth, John Bracewell, Derek Stirling (all members of the West Indies tour). Trevor Franklin’s return meant there was no place for Ken Rutherford. Bracewell was called up later.

Time between selection and departure from New Zealand     66 days

(11 August to 16 October)

Travel

Q

There was a pre-tour practice match in Auckland.

The team flew from Auckland to Brisbane on 16 October 1985.  The Crowe brothers left three weeks before the rest of the New Zealand team and stayed in Adelaide.

Time spent in Australia

   51 days

(16 October - 6 December)

On-tour selection panel

Coney (captain),   Wright (vice-captain),  Hadlee,  Turner (coach)

Reinforcements

Ervin McSweeney joined the team when Ian Smith pulled a hamstring jogging.

John Bracewell was called over before the Second Test when the tour selectors wanted to play a third spin bowler at Sydney. He seized his chance taking five wickets including Allan Border twice, and remained in the tour party.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

§ one-day international

Time spent in Australia before First Test: 

23 days

(16 October - 8 November)

Test appearances on tour

3  -  Coney,  Jeff Crowe,  Martin Crowe,  Edgar,  Hadlee,  Reid,  Smith,  Wright

2  -  Bracewell,  Brown,  Chatfield,

1  -  Boock,  Cairns,  Snedden

0  -  Franklin,  McSweeney.

Highlights

•   Martin Crowe’s 242* against South Australia was the highest score made by a New Zealander in Australia

•   John Reid scored 108 in the first Test, adding 224 with Martin Crowe (188), a New Zealand record partnership for the 3rd wicket.

•   Richard Hadlee cut through the Australian batting at Brisbane with 9-52

•   With 6-71 in the second innings, Hadlee returned 15-123 in the  match, the eighth best return by any bowler in Test cricket. His 9-52 and 15-123 were both New Zealand record bowling performances

.   Hadlee took three other five wicket hauls and his 33 wickets are the second highest tally in any three-match Test series

•   John Bracewell (83) and Stephen Boock (37) added 124 for the last wicket at Sydney.

•   In the one-day international at Adelaide Australia were bowled out for 70, their lowest score in a ODI, and New Zealand won by 206 runs, its highest margin in a one-dayer.

Tour Summary

Return to New Zealand

Q

After a recovery day in Perth, the players flew home on Friday evening 6 December 1985 to Auckland Airport where they were met by the Sports Minister Mr Moore and hundreds of enthusiastic fans..

Within a month the team was back in Australia for the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup.

Time away from New Zealand    51 days  

(16 October to 6 December)

Finances

Written accounts of the tour

Glenn Turner’s book