Test Cricket Tours - West Indies to Australia 1930-31
Tour of Australia
1930-31Captain: Jack Grant
Second official Test tour
First Test-playing tour of Australia by West Indies
(October 1930 - March 1931)
The Australian Board had originally suggested that
the tour should take place in 1929-30 but it was delayed because MCC were
making a tour of Caribbean.So it was two years after returning from
the first tour in England
before they made their second tour. Nonetheless the team came with some
optimism for they had brought with them three high-speed fast bowlers whose
development had continued since England. They also had among
their number George Headley who they considered to be the best batsman in the
world.But the Australians were far
too powerful and had little difficulty in winning the first four Test
matches.Happily, West Indies were
redeemed by a consolation victory at Sydney
where skipper Jackie Grant skilfully outmanoevred Australia to make the best of wet
and drying pitches.
Grant might not have been picked for the tour at all
for he had no previous experience of captaincy, had not played with any of
the team before, and was to be lost to West Indies cricket after the next
tour when he went to Rhodesia
on missionary service.Grant was
chosen on the recommendation of Harry Mallett, West
Indies' representative at the Imperial Cricket Council, and the
selectors agreed to his appointment.
During their first practice at Sydney,
the West Indian dressing room was ransacked by a thief who took £14 from
Barrow and £8 from others but missed £50 in Constantine's wallet.
The team visited New Zealand on the way to Australia but played only one
match.
Middle-order batsmenGeorge
Headley, Jackie Grant, Edward Bartlett, Frank de Caires, Oscar Wight, Derek
Sealy
Wicket-keepersIvan Barrow,
Errol Hunte,
Spin bowlersTommy Scott
Fast bowlersGeorge
Francis, Learie Constantine, Herman Griffith, Edwin St Hill
I M
Barrow
J
19
WK
E L Bartlett
B
24
RHB
L S Birkett
B
25
RHB
openervice-captain
L N Constantine
T
28
RHBRF
F I
de Caires
BG
21
RHB
G N
Francis
B
33
RF
G C
Grant
T
23
RHBcaptain
H C Griffith
B
37
RF
G A
Headley
J
21
RHB
E A C
Hunte
BG
25
RHBsecond WK
F R
Martin
J
37
LHBopenerSLA
C A
Roach
T
26
RHB
opener
E L
St Hill
T
26
RM
O C Scott
J
37
RHBLB
J E D Sealy
B
18
RHBRM
O S Wight
BG
24
RHB
Representation of teams:
B –
Barbados
(5)
BG
- British Guiana (3)
J – Jamaica (4)
T – Trinidad
(4)
Average
age ofteam at time of first Test
match
(12
December 1930) :
26 yrs11 month.
Test Appearances made before the tour
Roach 7, Constantine 6,
Griffith 6, Francis 4, Headley 4, Martin 4, de Caires 3, Hunte 3, Scott 3,
Sealy 2, St Hill 2, Barrow 1, Bartlett 1, Birkett 0, G C Grant 0, Wight 0.
Team Officials
R H
'Harry' Mallett
Manager
J
E'Joe' Seheult
Assistant
manager
BillFerguson
Scorer
/ baggage
Mallett had previously
managed West Indies on four tours of England
as well as MCC in West Indies in
1929-30.He was able to meet
Australian officials in England
in the summer of 1930 to sort out arrangements.
Selectors
P J O'Bradbury (Jamaica
- chairman), Major G S Cox (Jamaica), L T Yearwood (Leeward Islands), J E
Seheult and R K Nunes (Trinidad) F E W G Austin (Barbados), R H Mallett (representing
'Demerera').
Selection
R H Mallett, who was manager
of MCC in West Indies 1929-30, called a meeting in April 1930 to express his
views to the Board of Control before he had to conclude arrangements for the
MCC team about to set sail for England.
Two days later the West
Indies Board ratified the team selected and announced (on 18 April) that
Mallett would be the tour manager.
Unavailable: Teddy Hoad ;
C R Browne
Tour
Party Announced :16 April 1930.
Not selected :Ellis Achong.
Time between selection
and departure from West Indies
200 days
(March - 8 October)
Travel
Manager Harry Mallett sailed
from Southampton in the Shaw-Savill &
Albion liner ‘Tamaroa’. G C Grant,
who had never played a first-class match in West Indies and never met some of
the tour party, also sailed from Southampton
in the 'Tamaroa' on 10 October. He
played in the last practice match against N Betacourt's XI in Trinidad with five other tourists.
de Caires and Wight arrived
in Trinidad from British Guiana on ss 'Maravel' on 15 October.The assembled team sailed from Port of
Spain on 18 October in the 'Carare'
, reaching Panama where they met Mallett and Grant together with Barrow,
Headley, Martin and Scott from Jamaica on 23 October. The latter had sailed
from Kingston
on 20 October on 'Sixaola', 555 miles to Christobal.
Grant has written that a
match arranged against Panama's
West Indian community was cancelled because of a wet pitch despite pouring
kerosene on the wicket and setting it alight. He said a few overs were
bowled.
Leaving Panama on 29 October for New Zealand, the tourists played a two-day
match in Wellington.They finally reached Sydney on 18 November after nine hours on
rough seas. The 'Ulimaroa' berthed
in Darling Harbour at 4:30 pm and the team went
to the Hotel Sydney to rest.
Time spent in Australia
143 days
(10 October - 1 March)
On-tour selection panel
Manager Harry Mallett, with the young and inexperienced captain
Jackie Grant and Joseph Seheult, assistant manager and Treasurer, formed the
'Controlling Committee' to select the teams.
Reinforcements
None
Fixtures/Results
† Wellington
Wellington
Drawn
Sydney
New South Wales
Lost
4 w
Melbourne
Victoria
Lost
inns 254 r
Adelaide
South Australia
Lost
10 w
ADELAIDE
AUSTRALIAFirst Test
LOST 10 w
Launceston
Tasmania
Won
inns 50 r
Hobart
Tasmania
Drawn
SYDNEY
AUSTRALIASecond Test
LOST inns 172 r
Brisbane
Queensland
Won
219 r
BRISBANE
AUSTRALIAThird Test
LOST inns 217 r
† Newcastle
New
South Wales Country Districts
Won
inns 1 r
† Geelong
Victoria
Country
Drawn
Melbourne
Victoria
Drawn
Adelaide
South Australia
Lost
1 w
MELBOURNE
AUSTRALIAFourth Test
LOST inns 122 r
Sydney
New South Wales
Won
86 r
SYDNEY
AUSTRALIAFifth Test
WON 30 r
† not first-class
Time spent in Australia
before First Test:
49 days
(10 October - 28 November)
.
Test appearances on tour
5-Barrow, Constantine, Francis, Grant, Griffiths, Headley,
Martin, Roach, Scott
4- Bartlett, Birkett
2 -Sealy
0 -de Caires, Hunt, St Hill, Wight..
Highlights
•In the Third
TestGeorge Headley scored 102*, West Indies' first Test century against Australia. He repeated the feat
in the final Test..
•Freddie
Martin scored 123* opening the innings at Sydney,
to help West Indies build its winning total.
•Headley
became the first West Indian to score 1000 runs in a first-class season
outside England.
Tour Summary
P
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
5
1
4
0
-
Other first-class matches
9
4
3
2
-
Minor matches
3
1
0
2
-
All Matches
17
6
7
4
-
Return to
West Indies
Jackie Grant saw the team off from Sydney on the afternoon
of Friday 6 March. They left on the 'Marama'
for Wellington.
Grant went to Melbourne
where he took a passage on the 'Narkunda'
to India and thence to Rhodesia
where he would marry and take a job with Imperial Airways.
On 8 April the Royal Netherlands ship'Venezuela docked at Bridgetown
with Bartlett, Griffith,
Sealy and Francis (who was a professional cricketer destined for his next
engagement in England).
The 'Metapan'
from Santa Marta arrived at Port
Royal on 10 April with the Jamaicans, Headley, Scott, Martin and
Barrow.
Time away from West Indies
154 days
(8 October to 10 March)
Finances
The Trinidad Guardian criticised the managerial appointments on
grounds of expense. They noted that an Englishman, and an elderly one at that,
was in charge. Also that the side was limited to 16 players in order to fund
an assistant manager whereas a single manager had coped in England in 1926 (Sydney Smith), or with MCC in
Australia
in 1928-29 (Fred Toone). If there must be two managers, the assistant should
be a player-manager able to be of service to the side in an emergency,
suggesting J M Kidney or P H Tarilton.