Tour of Australia 1930-31          Captain: 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.

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

England 1928

Next tour

England 1933

Next tour of Australia

1951-52

Members of the Test tour party

(16)

Opening batsmen   Freddie Martin, Lionel Birkett, Cyril Roach

Middle-order batsmen  George Headley, Jackie Grant, Edward Bartlett, Frank de Caires, Oscar Wight, Derek Sealy

Wicket-keepers  Ivan Barrow, Errol Hunte,

Spin bowlers  Tommy Scott

Fast bowlers  George Francis, Learie Constantine, Herman Griffith, Edwin St Hill

Representation of teams:  

B – Barbados (5)

BG - British Guiana (3)

J – Jamaica (4)

T – Trinidad (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(12 December 1930) :

      26 yrs  11 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

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

† 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 Test  George 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

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.

Published accounts of the tour