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| Test Cricket Tours - West Indies to Australia & New Zealand 1968-69
| Tour of Australia & New Zealand 1968-69 Captain: Gary Sobers | | | | | | | | Fifteenth official Test tour Third Test-playing tour of Australia Third Test-playing tour of New Zealand by West Indies (October 1968 - March 1969) | This was one of the heaviest scoring Test series - but from the Australia point of view. The Australian batsmen averaged more than 42 runs per wicket, often helped by laboured West Indian fast bowling and slack fielding. Walters, Lawry and Chappell led the way though they had fine support from other batsmen. For the West Indian batsmen there was not the same solidity although they did not disgrace themselves. In the field, however, West Indies had big problems, mainly brought on by the ageing of the great side of the sixties. Hall and Griffith had clearly gone past their best and their Test careers petered out. The Test series could hardly have been expected to produce such electrifying cricket as in 1960-61 but the fourth Test at Adelaide, which West Indies needed to win to keep a stake in the series, evoked memories of that last tour by Frank Worrell's side. Again, Australia's last pair was at the wicket at the end of the match, holding out for a thrilling draw. On 10 February the team refused to board a plane in a storm and it was struck by lightning. | Other West Indies tours
Previous tour England 1966 Next tour England 1969 Next tour of Australia Next tour of New Zealand 1979-80 | | | Members of the Test tour party (17) Opening batsmen: Steve Camacho, Joey Carew, Roy Fredericks Middle-order batsmen Basil Butcher, Charlie Davis, Rohan Kanhai, Seymour Nurse, Clive Lloyd, Gary Sobers Wicket-keepers Jackie Hendriks, Michael Findlay Spin bowlers Lance Gibbs, David Holford Fast bowlers Richards Edwards, Charlie Griffith, Wes Hall, Lester King. | B F Butcher | G | 35 | RHB | | | G S Camacho | G | 23 | RHB opener | | | M C Carew | T | 31 | LHB opener / LM | | | C A Davis | T | 24 | LHB | | | R M Edwards | B | 28 | RFM | | | T M Findlay | W | 25 | second WK | | | R C Fredericks | G | 26 | LHB opener | | | L R Gibbs | G | 34 | OB vice-captain | | | C C Griffith | B | 29 | RFM | | | W W Hall | B | 31 | RFM | | | J L Hendriks | J | 34 | WK | | | D A J Holford | B | 28 | RHB | | | R B Kanhai | G | 32 | RHB | | | L A King | J | 29 | RFM | | | C H Lloyd | G | 24 | LHB | | | S M Nurse | B | 35 | RHB | | | G S Sobers | B | 32 | LHB LFM / SLA captain | | | |
| Regional representation: B - Barbados (6) G - Guyana (6) J - Jamaica (2) T – Trinidad & Tobago (2) W - Windward Islands (1) Average age of team at time of first Test match (13 December 1968) : 29 yrs 1 month | | | Test Appearances made before the tour | Sobers 65, Kanhai 56, Hall 45, Gibbs 39, Butcher 33, Griffith 23, Nurse 21, Hendriks 11, Holford 10, Lloyd 8, Camacho 5, Carew 4, King 2, Davis 0, Edwards 0, Findlay 0, Fredericks 0. | | | | Team Officials | The manager Berkeley Gaskin was retired as the Deputy Registrar of Guyana. He and Sydney Abrahams (Jamaica) as his assistant manager/tresurer were appointed on 9 March 1968. Walcott replaced Abrahams later. B M E Gaskin | Manager | K L Walcott | Treasurer | H A Cromarty | Masseur | G D Glover | Liaison Officer |
| | | | Selectors | B B M Gaskin (chairman), E D Weekes, E S M Kentish, F L Thomas, J B Stollmeyer, G S Sobers (captain). Stollmeyer joined the selection panel in place of Gomez, who was not available. | | | | Selection | Sobers, appointed captain on 23 March, joined the selection meeting. "They wanted to leave out Wes Hall. I told them straightaway that if they didn't pick Wes, I wouldn't be going either, and I meant it" - Garry Sobers My Autobiography (Headline Books 2002) Unavailable: None known. Deryck Murray was discarded but placed on stand-by in case Hendriks (back strain) was not fit. The selectors met and chose the team on Sunday 31 March but it was not announced until the following Thursday. Tour Party Announced : 4 April 1968 Not selected : Deryck Murray. | | | | Travel | Departure was from Seawell Airport, Bridgetown, on 12 October 1968. Findlay flew into Barbados from St Vincent on Wednesday 9 October. Gaskin, Butcher, Camacho, Fredericks and Cromarty arrived from Guyana on the Friday; Carew and Davis came in from Trinidad the next day as the plane made a stopover and picked up the assembled team, (including the Barbadians Edwards, Nurse, Holford and Walcott) for New York. They were joined there by King and Hendriks from Kingston, and Gibbs and Lloyd (from England on a weeks' holiday). The tour party left New York on 13 October. Sobers, Griffith, Kanhai and Hall were already in Australia to play in a double wicket tournament. The team arrived in Sydney on Tuesday 15 October and, after a day's rest, flew to Perth. On 21 February 1969 they flew from Sydney to Dunedin for the New Zealand tour. | | | | On-tour selection panel | Gary Sobers, Lance Gibbs, Rohan Kanhai, Berkeley Gaskin. It was decided at the beginning of the tour that Lance Gibbs would be vice-captain. | | | | Reinforcements | None | | | | Fixtures/Results | � Kalgoorlie | Western Australia Country | Won inns 155 r | Perth | Western Australia | Won 6 w | Perth | Combined XI | Lost 7 w | Adelaide | South Australia | Lost 10 w | Melbourne | Victoria | Drawn | Sydney | New South Wales | Won 9 w | � Murgon | South Queensland Country | Won 6 w | Brisbane | Queensland | Drawn | BRISBANE | AUSTRALIA First Test | WON 125 r | � Mackay | Queensland Country | Drawn | � Mildura | Victoria Country | Drawn | Adelaide | South Australia | Drawn | MELBOURNE | AUSTRALIA Second Test | LOST inns 30 r | SYDNEY | AUSTRALIA Third Test | LOST 10 w | � Narrandera | New South Wales Country | Won 6 w | Hobart | Tasmania | Drawn | Launceston | Combined XI | Won 10 w | � Launceston | Combined XI (30 overs) | Lost 6 w | � Loxton | South Australia Country | Drawn | ADELAIDE | AUSTRALIA Fourth Test | DRAWN | Melbourne | Victoria | Drawn | � Wangaratta | Victoria Country | Won 9 w | � Newcastle | Northern New South Wales | Drawn | � Gunnedah | North-West New South Wales | Abandoned | SYDNEY | AUSTRALIA Fifth Test | LOST 382 r | | | | Dunedin | South Island | Drawn | AUCKLAND | NEW ZEALAND First Test | WON 5 w | Napier | North Island | Drawn | WELLINGTON | NEW ZEALAND Second Test | LOST 6 w | CHRISTCHURCH | NEW ZEALAND Third Test | DRAWN | � Rotorua | Bay of Plenty(one-day) | Drawn | Auckland | NZ Governor-General's XI | Lost 23 r |
| � not first-class . | | | Test appearances on tour | 8 - Butcher, Carew, Gibbs, Hendriks, Nurse, Sobers. 7 - Fredericks, Lloyd. 5 - Edwards, Griffith, Holford, Kanhai. 3 - Hall. 2 - Camacho. 1 - Davis. 0 - Findlay, King. | | | | Highlights | • • • • | | | | Tour Summary | | P | W | L | D | Aban | Test Matches | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | Other first-class matches | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | - | Minor matches | 11 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | All Matches | 32 | 9 | 8 | 14 | 1 |
| | | | Return to West Indies | The team left Auckland International Airport on the evening of 23 March. Charlie Griffith went to Canada. Sobers stayed in Jamaica, where King and Hendriks alighted, too. The rest of the team (with the Trinidad and Guyana players in transit) arrived at Seawell Airport, Barbados, at 2:15 pm on 26 March 1969 after five months away. Less than one month later, they would be off again to tour England. | | | | Finances | Profit was $A 140 000 | | | | Published accounts of the tour | "Captains on a See-Saw" Phil Tressider "Fours Galore" Keith Miller & R S Whitington "Cricket Calypso" Alan Davidson | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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