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| Test Cricket Tours - Australia to England 1912
| Tour
of England
1912 Captain : Syd
Gregory | | | | | | Thirteenth Australian Test tour Thirteenth Test-playing tour of England by Australia. (March - -
November 1912) | The
Triangular Tournament - a Test championship between England, Australia
and South Africa
- was conceived by the South African financier and President of the South
African Cricket Board, Sir Abe Bailey. It was to have been held in 1909 but
the Australian Board turned this down. The
Australian Cricket Board appointed one of its own members as ‘secretary’
whose salary of £400 would come from tour profits, although it had agreed in
1906 that a touring team could manage its own affairs including picking its
own manager. Australia's
six leading players wanted Frank Laver as tour manager but the Board would
not allow this because they considered Laver's conduct on and after the 1909
tour disloyal to the Board. The six
rebels in turn would not agree to tour without Laver Clem
Hill was to be captain and the sole on-tour selector but, as his
replacement, Syd Gregory's leadership
was weak. The scorer Ferguson said he allowed the players to do
just as they pleased, and they were an unruly bunch. As the weaknesses of the side were exposed,
on 1 August the Board's chairman McElhone, presuming to speak for the Board,
sent word that it was not advisable to continue with the Triangular
Tournament, and that it was unfair to expect county clubs to suffer by
financing two visiting teams in one season. Crouch
was unable to maintain discipline either and, as the tour went on, some
members of the team's behaviour deteriorated further. Matthews, Carkeek and David Smith were
reprimanded for misconduct.The manager's
report said that the misbehaviour was so bad it even caused the tour party to
be socially ostracised, but the Board swept his findings under the carpet because
they would only highlight how poor his appointment had been and that Frank Laver
would have been a better manager. | Other
Australian Tours Previous
Test tour England 1909 Next
tour South Africa 1914-15cancelled Next
tour of England 1921 | | | Members of the Test tour party (15) Opening batsmen: Warren Bardsley, Claude Jennings. Middle-order batsmen Syd Gregory, Edgar Mayne, Charles Kelleway, Charlie
Macartney, Dave Smith, Roy Minnett Wicket-keepers Barlow Carkeek, Harold Webster Slow bowlers Jimmy Matthews, Syd Emery, Gerry Hazlitt Fast bowlers Bill Whitty, Jack McLaren. | W Bardsley | NSW | 29 | LHB opener | | | W Carkeek | Vic | 33 | WK | | | S H Emery | NSW | 25 | LBG | | | S E Gregory | NSW | 42 | RHB captain | | | G R Hazlitt | NSW | 23 | RM / OB | | | C B Jennings | Q | 27 | RHB vice-captain | | | C Kelleway | NSW | 23 | RHB RFM | | | C G Macartney | NSW | 25 | RHB SLA | | | J W McLaren | Q | 24 | RFM | | | T J Matthews | Vic | 28 | LB | | | E R Mayne | SA | 27 | RHB | | | R B Minnett | NSW | 23 | RHB RFM | | | D B M Smith | Vic | 27 | RHB | | | H Webster | SA | 23 | reserve WK | | | W J Whitty | SA | 25 | LFM | | |
|  State
representation Sheffield Shield teams NSW - New
South Wales (7) Qld - Queensland
(2) SA - South
Australia (3) Tas - Tasmania
(0) Vic - Victoria (3) WA - Western
Australia (0) Average
age of team at time of first Test
match (27 May 1912) : 27
yrs 5 months. Key to type: RHB
Right-handed bat RM Right arm medium-paced bowler RFM Right-arm fast medium OB Off break WK Wicket-keeper | | | Test Appearances made before the tour | Gregory 52, Macartney 15, Bardsley 14, Kelleway 9,
Whitty 8, Minnett 5, Hazlitt 3,
Matthews 2, McLaren 1, Carkeek, 0,
Emery 0, Jennings 0, Mayne 0,
Smith 0, Webster 0. | | | | Tour Officials | G S Crouch | Player-manager | W Ferguson | Baggageman/
scorer |
In
1910 the Australian Cricket Board had arrogated the players' right to choose
their own manager. George 'Chum'
Crouch, born in London in 1878, was a 33 year-old butter broker from Brisbane. He was invited
to be manager on 2 February, accepted on 16 February, and his appointment was
announced on 10 March. | | | | Selectors | The
selectors were originally Clem Hill, Frank
Iredale and Percy McAlister. Iredale
threatened to resign, although eventually it was Hill who walked out, upon
which Ernie Mayne was appointed to the selection panel (rather than the other
likely candidate, Charles Dolling) | | | | Selection | Unavailable: Dr H V (‘Ranji’)
Hordern declared himself unavailable on 24 January. Invitations were sent out
on 7 February 1912 to ten players, including Armstrong, Carter, Cotter, Hill,
Ransford and Trumper (“the Big Six”), Hordern (who had already said he was
not available), Carkeek, Minnett and Bardsley. These last three accepted on
17 February. On Monday 19 February
Armstrong, Carter, Cotter, Ransford and Trumper sent an acceptance
conditional on the touring side being allowed to pick its own manager but in
1910 the Australian Cricket Board had unilaterally removed the players' right
to choose their own. Their acceptance
was ignored and the Board gave them 24 hours to accept unconditionally. When this was not forthcoming, the
selectors invited Gregory, Hazlitt and McLaren in place of Armstrong, Cotter
and Trumper; then invited Macartney and Webster in place of Ransford and
Carter. On Sunday 25 February six
more players were chosen : Emery, Jennings,
Kelleway, Matthews, Mayne (one of the selectors) and Whitty. All accepted. At this point Australian
prime minister Mr McGowen interceded without success. On 27 February Hill was
informed that his conditional acceptance was rejected and he was given 24
hours to decide if he wished to be captain For the last tour place,
the selectors found that R J (Jack) Massie was unavailable and the following
were considered: Seitz, Smith (Vic), Barbour, Kortland (NSW), Fennelly (Q)
and Dolling (SA). Smith won the final
place. On 4 March Syd Gregory was
invited to captain the side and his choice was confirmed on 10 March, with Claude
Jennings as vice-captain. Tour Party Announced : 10 March
1912. Not selected : Warwick Armstrong, Sammy Carter,
Tibby Cotter, Clem Hill, Vernon Ransford, Victor Trumper On 17
March, only two days before the team sailed from Melbourne, Ransford was re-invited and
replied with another conditional acceptance, which was ignored. When it was learned that Trumper would be
in England
working as a reporter, the selectors again invited him to appear in the Test
matches. | Time between selection and departure from Australia 3 days (10 March - 13 March | | | Travel Sydney T Southampton ’Otway’ | On
departure from Circular Quay, Sydney, on 13 March 1912, the
team held up a banner saying, "We'll do our best to bring back The
Ashes" … However, the urn was not at stake in 1912. The New South Wales and
Queensland representatives left Sydney on the RMS 'Otway', calling at Melbourne (18-20 March) and Adelaide (22
March) to pick up players from other states.
There were matches in Perth
(while the Otway was in Fremantle port for ten hours on 26
March) and Colombo
(4 April) en route to England.
The ship also berthed at Port Said, Naples, Toulon and Gibraltar. Manager George Crouch and vice-captain Claude Jennings
disembarked at Toulon (21 April) and travelled
to England
overland. The 'Otway' reached Plymouth (where Macartney disembarked) on
26 April and Tilbury Docks the next day. | Time spent in England 144 days (27 April - 18 September) | | | On tour selection | Syd Gregory (captain), Claude Jennings (vice-captain), Warren Bardsley. | | | | Reinforcements | Dick
Arnst, a New Zealander, the world champion sculler, guested for the
Australians at Colombo. Warren
Bardsley decided not to join the private tour of America. E N Penfold assisted the ten-man team in
their matches in Philadelphia,
failing to score in any of his six innings. The press reported sometimes that
he was an Australian student, sometimes that he was English, and that his
name was Victor. He was the son of Mr E Penfold who hosted a function at
Covent Garden on the eve of the team's departure from England. | | | | Fixtures/Results | † Perth | Western Australia(one day) | Drawn | † Colombo | All Ceylon | Drawn | Trent Bridge | Nottinghamshire | Lost
6 w | Northampton | Northamptonshire | Won
inns 64 r | Leyton | Essex | Won
inns 132 r | Kennington
Oval | Surrey | Won 7
w | Lord's | M C C | Won 5
w | Oxford | Oxford University | Won
10 w | OLD TRAFFORD | SOUTH AFRICA First Test | WON inns 88 r | Edgbaston | Warwickshire | Drawn | Lord's | Middlesex | Drawn | Cambridge | Cambridge University | Drawn | Bradford | Yorkshire | Drawn | Old
Trafford | Lancashire | Lost
24 r | Kennington
Oval | Surrey | Lost
21 r | Taunton | Somerset | Won
10 w | LORD'S | ENGLAND First Test | DRAWN | Leyton | Essex | Drawn | Sheffield | Yorkshire | Drawn | Liverpool | Lancashire | Lost
8 w | Edinburgh | Scotland | Won
296 r | Perth | Scotland | Drawn | LORD'S | SOUTH AFRICA Second Test | WON 10 w | Leicester | Leicestershire | Drawn | Southampton | Hampshire | Lost
8 w | Hove | Sussex | Drawn | OLD TRAFFORD | ENGLAND Second Test | DRAWN | Derby | Derbyshire | Drawn | TRENT BRIDGE | SOUTH AFRICA Third Test | DRAWN | † Sunderland | Durham | Drawn | Dudley | Worcestershire | Drawn | Cheltenham | Gloucestershire | Drawn | Cardiff | South Wales | Abandoned | KENNINGTON OVAL | ENGLAND Third Test | LOST 244 r | Norwich | England XI | Drawn | Canterbury | Kent | Drawn | Kennington
Oval | Surrey
& Middlesex XI | Lost
10 w | Scarborough | Lord
Londesborough's XI | Drawn | Hastings | South
of England | Drawn | Bray (Dublin) | C B
Fry's XI | Lost
8 w | | | | Philadelphia(27 September) | Gentlemen
of Philadelphia | Lost
2 r | † Staten Island | All New York | Won
192 r | Haverford | Gentlemen
of Philadelphia | Won
45 r | † Haverford | Philadelphia Colts | Drawn | † Hamilton(12 October) | Bermuda | Won
57 runs | † Winnipeg | XV of
Winnipeg | Won 4
w | † Victoria,
BC | XV of
British Columbia | Won
444 r | | | |
| † not first-class Time spent in England
before First Test: 30 days (27 April - 27 May) | | | Test appearances on tour | 6
- Bardsley, Carkeek,
Gregory, Hazlitt, Jennings,
Kelleway, Macartney, Matthews,
Whitty. 4
- Emery, Minnett 2
- Mayne, Smith 0
- McLaren, Webster. | | | | Highlights | • Syd Gregory was on his eighth tour of England,
equalling Jack Blackham’s record. • Bardsley and Macartney, the team’s only
Test-class batsmen, shared a stand of 362 against Essex • Jimmy Matthews took two hat-tricks in one
day against South Africa
at Old Trafford. • | | | | Tour Summary | | P | W | L | D | Aban | Test Matches | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | - | Other first-class matches | 30 | 7 | 7 | 16 | - | ϯ Minor matches | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | In Australia
and Ceylon
(pre-tour) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | - | In North America
(post-tour) | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | - | All Matches | 44 | 14 | 9 | 21 | 1 |
| | | | Return to Australia Southampton T New York ‘ ?’ Vancouver T Melbourne ‘Ramana’ | The
tour concluded on 14 September. Ten
members of the team, plus Penfold, were seen off at Waterloo Station on 19
September for the United States
on a private venture to play matches in Philadelphia,
New York, Winnipeg
and British Columbia.
They sailed from Southampton on the “ … “ Bardsley,
Hazlitt, Macartney, Minnett and the manager sailed back separately by
different ships. Macartney,
on the Moldavia, was first to arrive in Sydney on 26 October;
Crouch arrived on the next mail boat. Hazlitt sailed on the Marathon, leaving London
on 12 October and reaching Sydney via the Cape on 2 December. Minnett left London
on 11 October and Bardsley in December but he stopped off in Ceylon. Jennings stayed in England
for three months working in London
and left in January. The
American tour party sailed home from Vancouver
on the RMS 'Ramana', via Auckland
and Sydney, and the ship docked at Melbourne on 25
November. During the voyage across the Pacific passengers objected to two
members of the team who became continually intoxicated and made a nuisance of
themselves.
| Time spent away from Australia 257 days (13 March to 25 November) | | | Finances | Only four players had opted to take the
£400 flat fee offered rather than a share of the profits. Expenses exceeded
income. The tour loss was £1286 and
the other players found themselves with £190 each. | | | | Written
accounts of the tour | "Before
the Lights Went Out" by Patrick Ferriday
(2011) Von Krumm Publishing. | | | | Postscript | McElhone
of the the Australian Board won his struggle with the players, who from now
on now had no influence at all on the running of overseas tours. But the Board suffered seriously from the
1912 venture, not only from losing money and disastrous playing results, but
also from damage to the reputation of Australian cricket because of the
drunken antics of the players. With the
1914-15 tour of South Africa
being cancelled, this was Australia’s
final Test tour until 1921. | | |
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