Tour of South Africa 1964-65               Captain : Mike Smith            

England’s 49th Test tour

(October - February 1965)

14th Test-playing tour of South Africa

  (previous tour 1956-57)

Ted Dexter decided not to lead England abroad again. He joined the tour after his General Election defeat in Cardiff, polling 22,288 votes to Mr James Callaghan's 30,129, on the same day that the team flew from Heathrow..

Colin Cowdrey, initially unable to tour for family reasons, later made himself available but the selectors preferred "a qualified opening batsman" and chose Brearley who subsequently batted well down the batting order, in the early matches anyway. Brearley played in every match, except the Tests. unlike Titmus who, once the series had begun, was held back for the Test matches.

Tony Nicholson had played throughout southern Africa in his days with the Rhodesian police but had to withdraw from the party with a back injury.

Phlegmatic, diplomatic and popular skipper Mike Smith led the team not only to a series victory but also went undefeated through all 19 matches. This was the tenth and last M.C.C. team to South Africa for thirty years. The Conservative M.P. John Carlisle unsuccessfully led moves to bring about another M.C.C. visit to South Africa in 1983 and it was not until 1995 that normal Test tours could resume.  It was also the first M.C.C Test touring team not to include a member of the champion county (this being Worcestershire in 1964).

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

India 1963-64

Next Test tour

Australia 1965-66

Next tour of South Africa

1968-69cancelled

1995-96

Members of the Test tour party (16  + 1)

Opening batsmen:   Bob Barber, Geoff Boycott, Mike Brearley.

Middle-order batsmen Ken Barrington, Ted Dexter, Mike Smith, Peter Parfitt

Wicket-keeper: John Murray, Jim Parks.

Slow bowlers: David Allen, Fred Titmus, Robin Hobbs

Faster bowlers: David Brown, Ian Thomson, John Price, Tom Cartwright (reinforced by Ken Palmer)

County representation:

Ex  -  Essex (1)

Gs - Gloucestershire (1)

Mx - Middlesex (5)

Sy - Surrey (1)

Sx - Sussex (3)

Wk - Warwickshire (4)

Yo - Yorkshire (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(4 December 1964):

  28 yrs 10 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Dexter 53,  Barrington 51,  Smith 27,  Allen 27,  Titmus 26,  Parfitt 21,  Parks 21,  Murray 14,   Barber 10,  Price 6,  Boycott 4,  Cartwright 2,  Brearley 0,  Brown 0,  Hobbs 0,  Thomson 0,  Palmer 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Walter Robins (chairman),  Doug Insole,  Willie Watson,  Alec Bedser,  Mike Smith (captain);  and five from the M.C.C. Committee : Gubby Allen,  Freddie Brown,  Donald Carr,  Billy Griffith and  Frank Mann.

Selection

Mike Smith was named as captain in early July.

The selectors chose the touring party in two stages. The first eleven names were Allen, Barber, Barrington, Boycott, Cartwright, Hobbs, Murray, Parfitt, Parks, Smith and Titmus.

The selection committee waited for evidence from the Fifth Test against Australia at The Oval before selecting their last five - Brearley, Brown, Nicholson, Price and Dexter (if available).

Unavailable : Colin Cowdrey (until later); Ted Dexter (neither as captain, nor in the event of his winning the parliamentary seat of Cardiff S.W.)

Tour party announced : 1 August and 19 August 1964.

Not selected:  Colin Cowdrey was not selected because Mike Brearley had by then been chosen.

Withdrawn:  Tony Nicholson withdrew with a back injury. Ian Thomson took his place on 2 October.

Time between selection and departure from England

   57 days

 (19 August - 15 October)

Travel

London Q Salisbury

The team departed from London Airport in two separate planes on 15 October 1964 (the first MCC team to fly to southern Africa)

Ten of the team, including the captain and manager, came via Nairobi where the flight was delayed, while nine took the westerly route and arrived in Salisbury (Rhodesia) next day.  Dexter arrived in Salisbury on 23 October.

Time spent in South Africa

    125 days

(16 October -  18 February)

On-tour selection panel

Mike Smith (captain),  Ted Dexter (vice-captain),  Ken Barrington (senior player),  Donald Carr (tour manager)

Reinforcements

Ken Palmer  was coaching in Johannesburg when called up on 10 February for the final Test because of injuries to David Brown (heel) and John Price (stomach muscle pulled).  He had earlier been asked to stand by for Tom Cartwright (stress fracture on right foot) before the second Test. 

John Edrich, coaching in Cape Town, was considered as a substitute for Bob Barber in the final Test but the tour committee opted for John Murray to open the innings.

Ken Barrington led the side against Orange Free State

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in South Africa before First Test:

   49 days

(16 October  - 4 December)

Test appearances on tour

5 -   Barrington,  Boycott,  Dexter,  Parfitt,  Parks,  Smith,  Thomson,  Titmus.

4 -   Allen,  Barber,  Price.

1 -   Cartwright,  Murray,  Palmer.

0 -   Brearley,  Brown,  Hobbs.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

 W won  L lost  D drawn

N no result   A abandoned

u unknown result

England’s six previous Test tour results

Highlights

•  Ken Barrington (148) and Jim Parks (108*) added a record 206 for the sixth wicket at Port Elizabeth ….

•  Off-spinners David Allen and Fred Titmus took 13 wickets between them on a turning pitch to win the First Test.

•  Allen and Titmus took a further five wickets each in the next match

•  Ken Barrington and Geoffrey Boycott both scored more than 1000 first-class runs on the tour

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Johannesburg    Q  London

Bob Barber broke a finger in the 4th Test and flew home on 1 February.

The first group of players flew from Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg, back to London’s Heathrow, then a second group - Smith, Allen, Cartwright, Parfitt, Parks. Thomson and Carr - arrived on 19 February 1965.

Robin Hobbs and John Price remained in South Africa to take a holiday.

Time away from England

  127 days 

 (15 October - 19 February)

Finances

Accounts of the Tour

“M.C.C. in South Africa"   by  Charles Fortune  (Hale, 1965);

“Cricket Crisis"   by Jackie McGlew  (Hodder & Stoughton (1965)

Postscript

Other tours in 1964-65

Australians in India and Pakistan 1964-65  -  captain  Bob Simpson

Pakistanis in Australia and New Zealand 1964-65  -  captain Hanif Mohammad

New Zealanders in India and Pakistan 1964-65  -  captain John Reid

Australians in West Indies 1964-65  -  captain Bob Simpson

Acknowledgements

To general reading of The Times newspaper digital archive (Gale Group);  Jamaica Gleanor archive;  National Library of Australia Trove; Papers Past NZ.

From former British Newspaper Library, Colindale and online:  The Age, Melbourne Argus, Bangladesh Daily Star, Barbados Advocate, Canberra Times, Daily Telegraph, Dawn, Eastern Daily Press, The Hindu, The Independent (Dhaka), Indian Express, The Island (Lanka), Lahore Times, New Nation, New Zealand Auckland Herald, Sri Lanka Daily News, Stabroek News, Straits Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Telegraph (Calcutta), Times of India , The Tribune Chandigarh, Trinidad Guardian, The West Australian.

cricketweb.net;  ESPN cricinfo;  cricket archive; www.cricketcountry; www.coverpoint

Magazines/periodicals including Australian Cricket, B & H West Indies Annual, The Cricketer International, Cricketer Quarterly, Indian Cricket, Indian Cricket Field Annual, Playfair Cricket Monthly, Shell Cricket Almanack of New Zealand, Wisden Cricket Monthly, Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack.

Men In White, A History of Australian Cricket (Harte), A History of Indian Cricket (Bose), A History of West Indies Cricket (Manley)

Biography and tour books (own collection and at the M.C.C. Library at Lord’s Ground)                                              ALL CONTENTS OF THE TEST-CRICKET-TOURS.CO.UK WEBSITE  ARE COPYRIGHT