Tour of West Indies 1929-30                 Captain :  Freddie Calthorpe            

England’s 29th Test tour

(December 1929  - April 1930)

First Test playing tour of West Indies by England

   (no previous tour)

The Australian Cricket Board had asked for a representative West Indian team to visit them in 1929-30 but the visit was deferred by two years.

The debut Test series between the two sides took place concurrently with the English team playing against New Zealand for the first time. Andrew Sandham's innings of 325 was not recognised as the record high Test score before it had been surpassed by Bradman's 334 three months later

It was the 8th visit to the Caribbean by an English side, the first having gone in 1894-95.

Only Astill and skipper F.S.G.Calthorpe had toured the West Indies before (with the 1925-26 team). This M.C.C. team was, by a wide margin, England's or any country's oldest tour party with an average age of nearly 38 years. Yet none of the seniors disgraced themselves and Rhodes, at the age of 52, topped the bowling averages.

After nine days the rain-affected Fourth Test had to be left drawn, although the teams intended to play to a finish, because M.C.C.'s boat home was leaving.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

Australia 1928-29

Simultaneous Test tour

New Zealand 1929-30

Next Test tour

South Africa 1930-31

Next tour of West Indies

1934-35

Members of the Test tour party (14  + 1)

Opening batsmen:  Andrew Sandham, George Gunn

Middle-order batsmen Patsy Hendren, Bob Wyatt, Freddie Calthorpe, Jack O’Connor

Wicket-keeper: Les Ames, Rony Stanyforth (and  Fred Price)

All-rounder:  Ewart Astill, Les Townsend

Slow bowlers: Wilfred Rhodes, Greville Stevens

Fast bowlers: Bill Voce, Nigel Haig.

County representation:

Dy -  Derbyshire (1)

Ex  -  Essex (1)

Kt - Kent (1)

La - Leicestershire (1)

Mx - Middlesex (3)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (2)

Sy - Surrey (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (2)

Y - Yorkshire (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(11 January 1930) :

 37 yrs 11 months

Key to type:

RHB Right-handed bat

RM  Right arm medium-paced bowler

RFM  Right-arm fast medium

OB   Off-break

WK  Wicket-keeper

Test Appearances made before the tour

Rhodes 54,  Hendren 33,  Gunn 11,  Sandham 10,  Stevens 8,  Wyatt 7,  Astill 5,  Stanyforth 4,  Ames 1,  Haig 1,  O'Connor 1,  Calthorpe 0,  Price 0,  Townsend 0,  Voce 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

 -

Selection

Unavailable : all those invited on the New Zealand tour.  Wally Hammond, Percy Chapman, Harold Larwood and others were not considered in view of the forthcoming Ashes series in England 1930.

Tour Party Announced   15 November 1929.

Time between selection and departure from England

   29 days

 (15 November  - 14 December)

Travel

Avonmouth   T    Bridgetown

               ‘’Carare’

Assembling at Paddington Station on 14 December, the team took a train to Bristol and sailed from Avonmouth on the ss 'Carare'. 

They arrived at Bridgetown on 27 December 1930. 

On 18 January the M.C.C. party left Barbados for Trinidad on the Dutch steamer 'Crynssen'.

Time spent in West Indies

    107 days

(27 December -  13 April)

On-tour selection panel

Freddie Gough-Calthorpe (captain),   Rony Stanyforth,   Bob Wyatt (senior player - but not a professional).

Reinforcements

Fred Price, a wicket-keeper, was asked to join the party in place of Stanyforth who returned home early. Wyatt missed some early matches with a foot injury.

Stevens strained his side in the Trinidad Test match and sailed direct from there to Jamaica.

Fixtures/Results

The local press reported: 

“MATCH AT PORT MARIA.   Mr. R. H. Mallett will be taking a team composed mainly of the M. C. C. players down to Port Maria on Friday, 11th April, to play a one-day friendly match at Palmer's Park.” The 4th Test was timeless, however, and did not finish until 12 April.

† not first-class

Time spent in West Indies before First Test:  

 14 days

(27 December - 11 January)

Test appearances on tour

(v West Indies 1929-30)

4 -   Ames, Astill, Calthorpe, Gunn, Haig, Hendren, Rhodes, Sandham, Voce.

3 -   O'Connor

2 -   Stevens, Wyatt.

1 -   Townsend.

0 -   Price, Stanyforth.

Match appearances

T  Test match

x other match 

p  practice match

 W won  L lost  D drawn

N no result   C  cancelled 

A abandoned

u unknown result

Sandham played in every match.

Highlights

•  Andrew Sandham scored 152 in the first Test at Bridgetown

•  Patsy Hendren's 205 not out and Bill Voce's 11 for 149 in the match were largely responsible for England's victory in the second Test match at Port-of-Spain. Voce had earlier taken 6-50 and 6-60 in the Trinidad colony match.   

•   While Voce was aged only 20, Wilfred Rhodes set the record for being the oldest Test player with 52 years and 165 days.

•   Hendren scored 254 not out in the first colony match against British Guiana and 171 in the second.

•   Andrew Sandham’s 325 in the fourth Test at Kingston was then the highest Test score.

•   Sandham added 173 with Gunn for the first wicket; 148 with Wyatt for the 2nd; 97 with Hendren for the third; 249 with Ames (who scored 149) for the fourth.  In all Sandham batted for ten hours as England totalled 849 all out.

Tour Summary

F  Fixtures   W  Won   L  Lost   D Drawn   T  Tied  Canc  Cancelled  Aban  abandoned

Return to England

Kingston      T   Dartmouth

               ‘Changuinola ’

Stanyforth left the tour at Georgetown on 11 February.   The team arrived in Jamaica on 17 March.

On 13 April 1930 the team embarked from Kingston, Jamaica, on the 'Changuinola' (?) and arrived in Dartmouth Harbour at 5pm on the evening of Saturday 26 April.

Time away from England

  133 days  

(14 December  - 26 April )

Finances

Accounts of the tour

Postscript

Other Test tours in 1929-30

England (M.C.C.) to New Zealand 1929-30