Tour of  India & Pakistan 1972-73                 Captain : Tony Lewis             

England’s 54th Test tour

(November 1972 - March 1973)

Sixth Test-playing tour of India by England

  (previous tour 1963-64)

Third Test-playing tour of Pakistan

 (previous tour 1968-69)

In late July 1971 the tour had been postponed for a year until 1972-73 because of the political situation in Pakistan.  The Cricket Council, after seeking Government advice had cancelled the 1971-72 tour of India and Pakistan because of the Bangladesh war and fears of a cholera outbreak among refugees in Bengal.

Ray Illingworth and M.J.K.Smith made themselves unavailable for the captaincy and Tony Lewis stepped in. According to his own book Mike Denness was a last minute choice as player and vice-captain.

India's spinners, supported by outstanding close catchers, helped the home country to her third series victory in succession (1970-71, 1971 and 1972-73). After three Tests, the Indians stood two matches to one ahead and then adopted defensive tactics to maintain their lead.

During the Pakistan tour the Black December faction made threats against the players, singling out for some reason Dennis Amiss. The Indian trip, too, had to be conducted under tight security.

This was the last long tour of the Indian sub-continent by an English team. Future tours trimmed at least a month off the time away. On return, manager Donald Carr said that the team found making a tour of Pakistan arduous after the exciting series in India because of lifeless pitches, frequent crowd interruptions and very hot weather.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

Australia & New Zealand

1970-71

Next Test tour

West Indies 1973-74

Next tour of India

1976-77

Next tour of Pakistan

1977-78

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen:  Dennis Amiss, Mike Denness, Barry Wood

Middle-order batsmen Tony Lewis, Keith Fletcher, Graham Roope

Wicket-keeper:  Alan Knott, Roger Tolchard

All-rounders:  Tony Greig

Slow bowlers: Derek Underwood, Pat Pocock, Norman Gifford, Jack Birkenshaw

Fast bowlers: Chris Old, Geoff Arnold, Bob Cottam

County representation:

Ex  -  Essex (1)

Gm - Glamorgan (1)

Kt  -  Kent (3)

La - Lancashire (1)

Le -  Leicestershire (2)

Nth - Northamptonshire (1)

Sy - Surrey (3)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Wo - Worcestershire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(20 December 1972) :

 28 yrs 8 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Knott 36,  Underwood 27,  Fletcher 15,  Amiss 9,  Gifford 9,  Arnold 6,  Greig 5,  Pocock 4,  Cottam 2,  Wood 1, Denness 1,  Birkenshaw 0,  Lewis 0,  Old 0,  Roope 0,  Tolchard 0.

Team Officials

Selectors

Alec Bedser (chairman), Doug Insole,  Don Kenyon,  Alan Smith,  Cyril Washbrook and Tony Lewis.

Selection

M.C.C. gave out the names of the captain on 4 August and the manager on 10 August.

42 players were asked whether they were available for the sixteen tour places.

Unavailable:  Geoffrey Boycott (owing to health fears after a spleen operation),  John Edrich,  Richard Hutton,  Ray Illingworth, Peter Parfitt,  Mike Smith,  John Snow.

Tour party announced :  18 August 1972.

Not selected:  Brian Luckhurst,  John Hampshire.

Withdrawn:  Bob Taylor withdrew and was replaced by Roger Tolchard.

Time between selection and departure from England

   103 days

 (18 August - 29 November)

Travel

London  Q  Bombay

The team flew from London on 29 November 1972, and landed in Bombay at dawn on 30 November after a 14-hour flight ; then went to Hyderabad for the first match.

The team left Bombay after the Indian section of the tour arriving in Colombo on 12 February for a brief visit to Sri Lanka until 22 February, when they flew out of Colombo to Karachi.

Time spent in India     74 days

(30 November  -  12 February)

Time spent in Pakistan  36 days

(22 February -  30 March)

On-tour selection panel

Tony Lewis (captain),  Mike Denness (vice-captain),  Tony Greig,  Donald Carr (manager).

Reinforcements

None although Pat Pocock returned briefly to England briefly (from Jamshedpur on 21 January) on the death of his father. Rumours that Boycott and Snow would be joining the tour were quashed on 25 January.

Alan Knott led England when Tony Lewis and Mike Denness were off the field unwell during the Test series.

Fixtures/Results

The Test match at New Delhi included play on Christmas Day

Colombo Oval is now the P Saravannamuttu Stadium (PSS)

† not first-class

Time spent in India before First Test:      21 days

(30 November - 20 December)

Test appearances on tour

(v  India & Pakistan 1972-73)

8 -   Denness, Fletcher, Greig, Knott, Lewis.

7 -   Arnold, Pocock.

6 -   Amiss, Underwood.

5 -   Old.

4 -   Gifford, Roope, Wood.

3 -   Birkenshaw.

2 -   Cottam.

1 - 

0 -   Tolchard.

Match appearances

T  Test match

x other match 

∙  played for opposition

W won  L lost  D drawn  

N no result   A abandoned  

u unknown result

Highlights

•  Mike Denness (95) and Dennis Amiss (81) began the tour with an opening partnership of 180 at Hyderabad

• 

• 

• 

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Karachi  Q  London

On 30 March the M.C.C. players flew out of Karachi for home, landing at London Airport later that night.

Time away from England

  121 days  

(29 November -  30 March)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

"The Hat Trick"   by Sundur Rajan (Jaico, 1974)

Postscript

Other tours in 1972-73

Pakistanis in Australia and New Zealand 1972-73 - captain Intikhab Alam

Australians  to West Indies 1972-73 -  captain Ian Chappell.