Tour of Australia & New Zealand 1968-69         Captain: Gary Sobers

Fifteenth official Test tour

 (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.

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.

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

† 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

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Tour Summary

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