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Test Cricket Tours - England to India & Australia 1976-77

 

Tour of India & Australia 1976-77          Captain : Tony Greig          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

England’s 57th Test tour.

(November 1976 - March 1977)

 

 

Sixth Test-playing tour of India by England

  (previous tour 1972-73)

 

29th Test-playing tour of Australia by England

  (previous tour 1974-75)

       

 

 

The 1976-77 M.C.C. tour of South Africa had been cancelled as long ago as 11 September 1975, and this tour brought forward from 1977-78. 

It was England's most successful visit to India, the sixth on which England had played Test cricket there. To the intense disappointment of the home supporters, the Indians capitulated in the first three Tests and thus lost the series. Greig's strategy, apart from engendering high morale in his team, was to use batsmen like Tolchard and himself determined to stay in and wear down the Indian spinners (Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna) who had baffled England on the previous tour in 1972-73.

India won a consolation victory at Bangalore and played with confidence in the final Test, but by then England's thoughts may already have been looking ahead to the Centenary Test, and Greig's to the launch of World Series Cricket.

 

 

Other England tours

 

Previous Test tour

Australia 1974-75

 

 

Next Test tour

Pakistan 1977-78

 

 

Next tour of India

1981-82

 

 

 

Members of the Test tour party (16)

 

 

Opening batsmen:  Geoff Boycott, Brian Luckhurst, John Edrich.

Middle-order batsmen Basil D’Oliveira, Keith Fletcher,

Wicket-keeper: Alan Knott, Bob Taylor

All-rounders: 

Slow bowlers: Ray Illingworth, Don Wilson,

Fast bowlers: John Snow, Peter Lever, Ken Shuttleworth

 

 

 

D L Amiss

Wk

33

RHB   opener

 

G D Barlow

Mx

26

LHB

 

J M Brearley

Mx

34

RHB opener

 

G A Cope

Yo

29

OB

 

K W R Fletcher

Ex

32

RHB

 

A W Greig

Sx

30

RHB  RFM/OB

 

A P E Knott

Kt

30

WK

 

J K Lever

Ex

27

LFM

 

G Miller

Dy

24

OB

 

C M Old

Yo

27

RFM

 

D W Randall

Nt

25

RHB

 

M W W Selvey

Mx

28

RFM

 

R W Tolchard

Le

30

second WK

 

D L Underwood

Kt

31

LM

 

R G D Willis

Wk

27

RF

 

R A Woolmer

Kt

28

RHB   RM

 

 

 

 

  

County representation:

 

Dy – Derbyshire (1)

Ex  -  Essex (2)

Kt  -  Kent (3)

Le - Leiscestershire (1)

Mx - Middlesex (3)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (1)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (2)

Yo - Yorkshire (2)

 

 

  

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

  (17 December 1976) :

     29 yrs 5 months

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test Appearances made before the tour

 

Knott 78,  Underwood 63,  Fletcher 48,  Greig 47,  Amiss 42,  Old 26,  Willis 18,  Woolmer 7,  Brearley 2,  Selvey 2,  Miller 1,  Barlow 0,  Cope 0,  Lever 0,  Randall 0,  Tolchard 0.

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Officials

 

Ken Barrington

Manager

Bernard Thomas

Physiotherapist

Govind Bawji

Baggageman

 

The name of the manager, Ken Barrington, was announced at Lord’s on 31 August. (He had been given a trial run on the Derrick Robins tour of South Africa in 1975-76).  Tony Greig was chosen as captain at the same meeting of the MCC Committee by Gubby Allen, Alec Bedser, Freddie Brown, Insole and Peter May.

 

 

 

 

 

Selectors

 

Alec Bedser (chairman) ,  Tony Greig (captain),  Doug Insole,  Len Hutton,  Ken Barrington, Charlie Elliott and Freddie Brown.

 

 

 

 

 

Selection

 

Unavailable :   Geoff Boycott.  When Boycott turned down the offer of the vice-captaincy, Greig suggested it should be given to Brearley.

 

Tour party announced :  8 September 1976.

Chris Old was selected subject to a special fitness test on 3 November. Bedser let it be known that Mike Gatting would have been the 17th player. 

Not selected:  David Steele was particularly unlucky not to be chosen.

 

 

Time between selection and departure from England

   days

 (8 September  - 23 November)

 

 

 

 

Travel

LondonQ  Colombo

 

 

The team flew by Air India jumbo jet from Heathrow Airport, London, on 23 November 1976 and arrived at Santa Cruz Airport, Bombay, at 4:20 am on 24 November after an 11-hour flight. 

There were three days of practice at Wankhede Stadium. Then they departed by rail for the first match at Pune.

After the Indian tour on 19 February the team flew from Bombay in an aged Avro plane for Colombo.  While in Sri Lanka Greig and Barrington were charged to report to the I.C.C. on Sri Lanka's readiness for Test cricket. 

After the four matches in Sri Lanka, the team left Bandaranayeke International Airport, and flew via Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to Perth, arriving on 4 March.

 

 

Time spent in India

    87 days

(24 November - 19 February)

 

Time spent in Australia

    14 days

(4 March - 18 March)

 

 

 

On-tour selection panel

 

Tony Greig (captain),  Ken Barrington (manager),  Mike Brearley (vice-captain),  Keith Fletcher,  Alan Knott.

 

 

 

 

 

Reinforcements

 

None.  Geoff Cope returned briefly to England on the death of his father.

Alan Knott was temporarily captain in the North Zone match and Keith Fletcher against Sri Lanka.

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures/Results

 

 

 

The tour itinerary was announced by the BCCI on 31 March 1976

 

 

a

Pune

West Zone

Drawn

b

Jaipur

Central Zone

Drawn

c

Ahmedabad

Board President's XI

Drawn

d

Jullundur

North Zone

Drawn

e

NEW DELHI

INDIA  First Test

WON inns 25 r

f

Guahati

East Zone

Drawn

g

CALCUTTA

INDIA  Second Test

WON 10 w

h

Nagpur

Universities & under-22

Won 143 r

i

MADRAS

INDIA  Third Test

WON 200 r

j

Hyderabad

South Zone

Drawn

k

BANGALORE

INDIA  Fourth Test

LOST 140 r

l

Indore

Bombay(Ranji champions)

Drawn

m

BOMBAY

INDIA  Fifth Test

DRAWN

n

Colombo

Sri Lanka

Won 23 r

o

Galle

President's XI

Drawn

p

Colombo

Sri Lanka

Drawn

q

† Colombo

Sri Lanka

Lost 3 w

r

Perth

Western Australia

Drawn

s

MELBOURNE

AUSTRALIA Centenary Test

LOST 45 r

 

 

 

† not first-class

 

Time spent in India before First Test:   23 days

(24 November  - 17 December)

 

 

 

 

Test appearances on tour

(v India & Australia 1976-77)

 

 

6 -  Amiss, Brearley, Greig, Knott, Lever, Underwood, Willis.

5 -  Old, Randall.

4 -  Fletcher, Tolchard.

3 -  Woolmer.

2 -  Barlow.

1 -  Selvey.

0 -  Cope, Miller.

 

 

 

 

 

Match appearances

 

 

 

 

 

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

 

 W won  L lost  D drawn  T tied

N no result   A abandoned

u unknown result  C  cancelled

 

 

 

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

D.L.Amiss

x

x

x

 

T

 

T

x

T

x

T

 

T

x

x

 

x

x

T

G.D.Barlow

 

x

x

 

T

x

T

 

 

x

 

x

 

x

x

x

x

x

 

J.M.Brearley

x

x

x

x

T

x

T

x

T

 

T

x

T

 

x

 

x

x

T

G.A.Cope

x

x

 

 

 

x

 

x

 

x

 

x

 

x

x

x

x

 

 

K.W.R.Fletcher

x

 

 

x

T

 

 

x

 

x

T

x

T

 

x

x

x

 

T

A.W.Greig

x

 

x

x

T

x

T

 

T

x

T

 

T

x

 

x

 

x

T

A.P.E.Knott

 

x

 

x

T

 

T

x

T

x

T

 

T

 

 

x

 

x

T

J.K.Lever

 

x

x

x

T

 

T

x

T

x

T

 

T

x

 

x

x

 

T

G.Miller

x

x

x

x

 

x

 

x

 

x

 

x

 

x

x

x

x

x

 

C.M.Old

x

x

x

x

T

x

T

 

T

 

T

x

 

 

x

 

x

x

T

D.W.Randall

x

x

x

x

 

x

T

x

T

x

T

x

T

x

x

x

 

x

T

M.W.W.Selvey

x

 

x

x

 

x

 

x

 

x

 

x

T

x

x

 

x

x

 

R.W.Tolchard

x

 

x

 

 

x

T

x

T

 

T

x

T

x

x

 

x

 

 

D.L.Underwood

 

x

x

 

T

 

T

 

T

 

T

x

T

x

 

x

 

 

T

R.G.D.Willis

x

 

 

x

T

x

T

 

T

 

T

 

T

 

 

x

 

x

T

R.A.Woolmer

 

x

 

x

T

x

 

x

T

x

 

x

 

x

x

x

x

x

T

 R E S U L T S

D

D

D

D

W

D

W

W

W

D

L

D

D

W

D

D

L

D

L

 

 

 

 

England’s six previous Test tour results

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights

 

   Dennis Amiss scored 179 at Delhi

   Roger Tolchard’s 67  at Calcutta

 

   It was the first time an England side had won a series in India since Jardine’s tour in 1933-34.    

   Derek Randall played his greatest innings, 174, in the Centenary Test at Melbourne

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Summary

 

 

 F

 W

L

 D

Aban

Test Matches

  6

 3

2

  1

-

Other first-class matches

10

 1

0

  9

-

Minor matches

  3

 1

1

  1

-

All Matches

19

 5

3

11

-

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Return to England

Melbourne  Q  London

 

 

The Centenary Test completed the tour.

The MCC team flew out of Melbourne on 18 March, reaching Heathrow on the morning of 19 March.

 

 

Time away from England

  115 days  

(24 November - 19 March)

 

 

 

Finances

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accounts of the tour

 

"MCC in India 1976-77"   by Christopher Martin-Jenkins  (Macdonald and Janes, 1977)

"Test Commentary: India v England 1976-77"   by Dicky Rutnagur.

 

 

 

 

 

Postscript

 

 

This was the last England tour to take place under the name of M.C.C. In future, touring teams would be known as "England". This decision was prompted by another team under the name of M.C.C. touring Bangladesh in 1976-77.

 

 

 

 

 

Other Test tours in 1976-77

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 




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