Tour of New Zealand & Pakistan 1983-84        Captain :  Bob Willis         

England’s 64th Test tour

(December 1983  - March 1985)

Twelfth Test playing tour of New Zealand ;  and fifth Test-playing tour of Pakistan by England

(previous tours 1977-78)

At Christchurch England bowled abysmally (“the worst he had seen in a Test match”, according to Bob Willis) allowing Richard Hadlee to score a rapid 99 before failing to avoid the follow-on, and his bowling (8-44) sent England to an innings defeat. Allegations in an English tabloid newspaper followed and unsettled the team further.

It became the first England side to lose a series in New Zealand and went on to become the first to lose a series in Pakistan, too. Manager Alan Smith said that the team had not done too badly, being unable to recover from bowling badly on the first day at Christchurch, and losing only narrowly in the opening Test in Pakistan.

 SUMMARY to be completed

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

Australia 1982-83

Next Test tour

India 1984-85

Next tours of  New Zealand & Pakistan

1987-88

Members of the Test tour party (15)

Opening batsmen:  Chris Smith, Graeme Fowler.

Middle-order batsmen Mike Gatting,  Allan Lamb, David Gower, Derek Randall, Chris Tavare

Wicket-keeper: Bob Taylor

All-rounder:  Ian Botham

Slow bowlers: Vic Marks, Nick Cook

Fast bowlers: Norman Cowans, Graham Dilley, Bob Willis, Neil Foster (reinforced by Tony Pigott).

County representation:

Dy – Derbyshire (1)

Ex  -  Essex (1)

Ha - Hampshire (1

Kt  -  Kent (2)

La - Lancashire (1)

Le -  Leicestershire (2)

Mx - Middlesex (2)

Nth - Northamptonshire (1)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (1)

Sm - Somerset (2)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(20 January 1984) 

      27 yrs  7 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Willis 83,  Botham 63,  Gower 53,  Taylor 51,  Randall 40,  Tavare 26,  Gatting 24,  Dilley 17,  Lamb 15,  Cowans 8,  Fowler 6,  Cook 2,  Marks 2,  CL Smith 2,  Fowler 1.

Tour Officials

Norman Gifford was appointed as assistant manager on 9 September.

Selectors

Peter May (chairman),  Alec Bedser,  Phil Sharpe,  Alan Smith, with Doug Insole and Frank Mann attending, and Bob Willis (captain) co-opted.

Selection

Bob Willis was announced as captain on 30 August.

Not considered:  Fifteen players under a three-year ban because of the 1982 rebel tour of South Africa. (Amiss, Boycott, Emburey, Gooch, Hendrick, Humpage, Knott, Larkins, Lever, Old, Sidebottom, Taylor, Underwood, Willey, Woolmer).  Otherwise none.

Tour Party Announced  : 6 September 1983.

Neil Foster’s selection was subject to the satisfactory surgery on his back (removal in August of two metal plates).

Paul Downton was chosen to stand-by because there was no second wicket-keeper on tour. In an emergency Fowler was expected to take the gloves.

Not selected:   Phil Edmonds.

Time between selection and departure from England

   114 days

 (6 September - 29 December )

Travel

London  Q  Fiji  Q  Auckland

Departure was on 29 December 1983.

The team flew from Gatwick Airport, London, to Fiji to play two one-day matches.

They then flew on to New Zealand and arrived in Auckland on the evening of 4 January.

Leaving Auckland again on 27 February the Boeing 747 developed engine trouble and was diverted to Sydney for repairs. The team was unable to take off again until next day, because by now it was past the 10 pm deadline for take-offs in Australia.  arrived in Karachi on 28 February 1984.

Time spent in New Zealand

    54 days

(4 January  - 27 February)

Time spent in Pakistan

   28 days

(28 February -   27 March

On-tour selection panel

Bob Willis (captain),  David Gower (vice-captain),  Ian Botham,  Alan Smith (manager),  Norman Gifford (coach)

Reinforcements

Norman Cowans missed early matches with a stomach upset.

Tony Pigott was playing for Wellington in the Shell Shield when he was called up for the Christchurch Test match.

Fixtures/Results

ϯ not first-class

§  one-day internationals (Rothman’s Cup in NZ; Wills Cup in Pakistan)

Time spent in New Zealand before First Test:  

 16 days

(4 January - 20 January)

Test appearances on tour

  (v New Zealand & Pakistan 1983-84)

6  -   Gower,  Lamb,  Randall,  Taylor

5  -   Gatting,  Smith (CL)

4  -   Botham,  Cook,  Cowans,  Foster,  Fowler,  Marks,  Willis

2  -   Tavare

1  -   Dilley,  Pigott.

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

•  T

• 

• 

• 

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Colombo  Q London

Graham Dilley (numbness down his right side and subsequently needed an operation on his neck), Bob Willis (virus) and Ian Botham (knee) returned home early, unfit to play.

Twelve players returned to Heathrow Airport on Tuesday 27 March

Time away from England

  89 days  

(29 December - 27 March)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

"The Captain’s Diary: England in Fiji, New Zealand and Pakistan 1983-84”   by Bob Willis (Collins, 1984)

Postscript

Other Test tours in 1983-84

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