Tour of New Zealand 1929-30                 Captain :  Harold Gilligan             

England’s 28th Test tour.

(September 1929  -

                   March 1930)

First Test playing tour of New Zealand by England

   (no previous tour)

The first tour on which Test matches were played between New Zealand and England, this series marked New Zealand's debut in Test cricket. Seven English teams had visited New Zealand before. In both 1863-64 and 1876-77 George Parr's team and James Lillywhite's team sandwiched matches in New Zealand between the two sections of an Australian tour. In 1881-82 and 1887-88 Shaw, Shrewsbury and Lillywhite's sides came. Lord Hawke's 1902-03 tour was the first on which first-class matches were played. 1906-07 was the first M.C.C. tour, and M.C.C. returned in 1922-23 when 51 year-old A.C.MacLaren was captain.

When the former England captain Arthur Gilligan was taken ill and was unable to lead M.C.C.on tour, his brother Harold was appointed captain instead. The New Zealanders insisted on the inclusion of K.S.Duleepsinhji, nephew of "Ranji", and either Hendren or Woolley as members of the tour party.

New Zealand had the better of the second Test (an opening partnership of 276 between Mills and Dempster leading the way to a first innings score of 440) but three days were not long enough to force a result. Bad weather at Auckland washed out the first two days of the third 3-day Test, which became no more than an exhibition game. M.C.C. sent a cable from Lord's that they would agree to play an additional Test match the following week. Gilligan readily agreed with the New Zealand request.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

Australia 1928-29

Simultaneous Test tour

West Indies 1929-30

Next Test tour

South Africa 1930-31

Next tour of New Zealand

1932-33

Members of the Test tour party (14)

Opening batsmen:  Ted Bowley, Eddie Dawson

Middle-order batsmen Maurice Turnbull, K S Duleepsinhji, Frank Woolley, Harold Gilligan, Geoffrey Legge, Guy Earle

Wicket-keeper: ‘Tich’ Cornford, Edward Benson

All-rounder:  Stan Nichols

Slow bowlers:  (Woolley)

Fast bowlers: Maurice Allom, Fred Barratt, Stan Worthington.

County representation:

Dy -  Debryshire (1)

Ex  -  Essex (1)

Gm -  Glamorgan (1)

Gs - Gloucestershire (1)

Kt -  Kent (2)

Le - Leicestershire (1)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (1)

Sm  - Somerset (1)

Sy - Surrey (1)

Sx - Sussex (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(10 January 1930) :

   29 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

Woolley 55, Bowley 2, Barratt 1, Dawson 1, Duleepsinhji 1, Legge 1, Allom 0, Benson 0, Cornford 0, Earle 0, Gilligan 0, Nichols 0, Turnbull 0, Wortington 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

 -

Selection

Fourteen players were invited on 30 June.

A.E.R.Gilligan (Sx) and Frank Watson (La) withdrew, and Gilligan's brother, Harold and Maurice Allom were brought in to the side. Ted Bowley, as a former player-coach with Auckland, was taken for his experience of New Zealand conditions.

Tour Party Announced  29 August 1929.

Withdrawal :  Arthur Gilligan withdrew through ill health and was replaced by his brother Harold

Time between selection and departure from England

   29 days

 (29 August - 27 September)

Travel

Tilbury      T      Fremantle

               ‘Orford’’

Sydney      T      Wellington

               ‘Ulimaroa’

The team assembled at St Pancras railway station, London, on 27 September and, accompanied by Mrs Woolley and daughter and Mrs Legge, sailed from Tilbury on RMS 'Orford'. 

The ship sailed via Toulon and Port Said for Colombo where the team played a match against Ceylon on 19 October. They also played the Australian states en route to New Zealand. The 'Orford' arrived in Fremantle on 29 October.

Woolley, Cornford, Earle and Bowley were unfit to play and went from Sydney to Wellington on the 'Marama' on 3 December. The bulk of the party left Sydney on 6 December and arrived in Wellington on the 'Ulimaroa' on Tuesday 10 December.

Time spent in Australia

    38 days

(29 October -  6 December)

in New Zealand       81 days

(10 December - 1 March)

On-tour selection panel

Harold Gilligan (captain),  Guy Earle (vice-captain),   Frank Woolley (senior professional).

Reinforcements

Andrew Ducat (Sy), 43, who had been appointed Queensland coach in August 1929, played for M.C.C. against Queensland when the four unfit players were absent. Gilligan had asked for the Queensland match on 19 November to be cancelled. Bowley, the reserve wicket-keeper was struck in the face by a ball in this match and Duleepsinhji kept wicket.

Ted Bowley was unfit with sciatica until the second Test match.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in New Zealand before First Test:  

 28 days

(24 October - 21 November)

Test appearances on tour

 (v New Zealand 1929-30)

4 -  Allom, Barratt, Cornford, Dawson, Duleepsinhji, Gilligan, Legge, Nichols, Woolley, Worthington.

3 -  Bowley.

2 -

1 -  Turnbull.

0 -  Benson, Earle.

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

Highlights

•   Frank Woolley scored a double century (219) against New South Wales at Sydney

•  Maurice Allom took four wickets in an over, including the hat-trick, in the first Test at Christchurch, which reduced New Zealand to 21 for 7.

•  K S Duleepsinhji scored a dazzling 117, and Woolley took 7 wickets for 76 runs at Wellington.

•  Duleepsinhji scored another century (117) as did fit-again Ted Bowley (109) in the third Test at Auckland.

•  Geoffrey Legge saved his best innings of the tour (196) for the final Test at Auckland. With Nichols (75) he added 184 for the fifth wicket.

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Wellington    T    Southampton

                 ‘Rangitane’’

On 1 March 1930 the team left Wellington on the 'Rangitane', sailing across the Pacific Ocean and via Panama.

The ship arrived at Southampton at 5pm on Thursday 3 April 1930.

Time away from England

  188 days  

(27 September -3 April)

Finances

Five matches were staged in Australia to boost income before the New Zealand tour, which lost about £200 after paying out the professionals' wages and the amateurs' expenses.

Accounts of the tour

“The Book of the Two Maurices"   by Maurice Allom and Maurice Turnbull   (Allom & Co, 1930)

Postscript

Other Test tours in 1929-30

England (M.C.C.) to West Indies 1929-30