Tour of England 1933                        Captain:  Jack Grant

Third official Test tour

Second Test-playing tour of England by West Indies

    (April - September 1933)

The West Indies Board of Control met in Bridgetown on 22 and 23 January 1932 and unanimously appointed former Barbados batsman J M Kidney as manager of the side. The preliminary arrange-ments for the tour, including the preparation of the fixtures, were placed in the hands of R H Mallett.  Once in England, Jack Kidney was not entirely the tour manager, Mallett really being in charge with Kidney being supervised by him.

Learie Constantine, a professional with Lancashire League club Nelson, was not available for the whole of West Indies' second official tour of England because the club declined to release him. Constantine played in only six matches and only one Test match. Valentine took his part in the tour party.

Alma Hunt from Bermuda was not in the original selection for the tour trials but Bermudans thought so highly of him they paid for his passage on the 'Lord Nelson' to the trials in Trinidad. However, he failed to win a place in the team.

George Francis, who was unsuccessful in the trials, was called up from his league club to play in  the First Test.

The tour was deferred from 1932.  South Africa were originally intended to be England’s 1933 visitors.

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

Australia 1930-31

Next tour

England 1939

Next tour of England

1939

Members of the Test tour party

(15)

Opening batsmen: Teddy Hoad, Clifford Roach,

Middle-order batsmen  Jackie Grant, George Headley, Freddie Martin, Cyril Merry, Ben Sealey, Archie Wiles

Wicket-keepers: Ivan Barrow, Cyril Christiani.

Spin bowlers: Ellis Achong,

Fast bowlers  Oscar da Costa, Herman Griffith, Manny Martindale, Vincent Valentine

Representation of teams:  

B – Barbados (3)

BG - British Guiana (1)

J – Jamaica (5)

T – Trinidad (6)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(24 June 1933) :

     29 yrs  3 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Roach 12,  Griffith 11, Constantine 11, Francis 9,  Headley 9,  Martin 9,  Barrow 6,  GC Grant 5,  Hoad 2,  Achong 1,  da Costa 1,  Christiani 0,  Martindale 0,  Merry 0,  Sealey 0,  Valentine 0,  Wiles 0

Team Officials

Selectors

Appointments for the tour were agreed by the West Indies Cricket Board of Control chaired by G C Grant's brother Fred, the President of the West Indies Board.  Other members were P J O Bradbury, C A Child, A C O'Dowd, C Shanklin, A E Harrigan, J M Kidney and J G Kelshall.

Selection

It was decided that fourteen players would be selected for the England tour.

Trial matches in August 1932 were abandoned owing to the difficulties encountered by cricketers in the West Indies in obtaining leave.

On 18 November 1932 the names of players to appear in trial matches in Trinidad were announced.

Unavailable:  W M Green (owing to his job as a commission agent in Georgetown); R K Nunes (though he would be present in England throughout the 1933 summer); C V Wight; L N Constantine and G N Francis (contracts to play League cricket).

At first, F R Martin (a fruit company cashier, he was unable to get leave) and Ivan Barrow were unavailable.

The West Indies Board of Control applied to Nelson Cricket Club to release Constantine for three Test matches but two of the dates clashed with important league fixtures.

Tour Party Announced :  4 February 1933.

Not selected :    From the trials the following players were omitted:

C L C Bourne, E Constantine, F I de Caires, J R Edwards, G N Francis, E A C Hunte, L G Hylton, R E McGregor,  G A Mudie, J Parriss, C Passailaigue, H M Rogers, J E D Sealy, H Taylor, J Williams.

Time between selection and departure from West Indies

 200 days

 (4 February - 8 October)

Travel

The 'Bayano' sailed originally from Kingston with the Jamaicans, and left St Vincent jetty, Port of Spain, with seven more players on the evening of Tuesday 4 April, calling at Bridgetown to pick up Griffith and Martindale.

The ship reached Avonmouth on 16 April and the team were met by M C C officials at Paddington Station, London.  Hoad sailed by the 'Camito' on 18 April.

Time spent in England

   143 days

(10 October - 1 March)

On-tour selection panel

Jackie Grant,  Teddy Hoad,  Jack Kidney,  Freddie Martin.

A committee formed to represent the West Indies Board of Control in England during the summer consisted of Sir Algernon Aspinall, President of the West India Club;  R H Mallett;  J M Kidney and G C Grant.

Reinforcements

 Clifford Innis, who was up at Oxford University, played twice. 

Rolfe Grant also played twice.

Learie Constantine was called up from his league club, Nelson, but was available for only one Test appearance, George Francis (B), 35, of Radcliffe club being called upon instead of him at Lord’s.  Constantine played in six other matches.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in England before First Test:

 49 days

(10 October - 28 November)

Test appearances on tour

3 -  Achong, Barrow, da Costa, Grant, Headley, Martindale, Roach.

2 -  Griffith, Hoad, Merry, Valentine.

1 -  Constantine, Francis, Sealey, Wiles.

0 -   Christiani, Martin.

Highlights

•   George Headley scored 2320 first-class runs on tour at an average of 66.  The leading bowler was Manny Martindale who took 103 wickets.

•  Ivan Barrow became the first West Indian to score a Test century in England, At Old Trafford he scored 104.

•  George Headley added 200 runs in partnership with Barrow and went on to a personal score of 169 not out.

•  Teddy Hoad (149*) and Herman Griffith (84) added 138 v Sussex at Hove – a last wicket record partnership for West Indies

Tour Summary

Return to West Indies

Ivan Barrow and J M Kidney remained in England until January for business reasons. 

Headley, Martin, Valentine and da Costa left Avonmouth (Bristol Docks) for Jamaica on the 'Bayano' on 13 September.

All others left Avonmouth on 18 September in the 'Cavina',  which docked at Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday 30 September.

Time away from West Indies

  154 days 

 (8 October to 10 March)

Published accounts of the tour

Match appearances