Tour of  Pakistan 1968-69                 Captain : Colin Cowdrey              

England’s 52nd Test tour

   (January - March 1969)

Second Test-playing tour of Pakistan by England

  (previous tour 1961-62)

The second series to be played between the two countries in Pakistan was drawn, none of the three Test matches reaching a conclusion, but the cricket played was made irrelevant by civil disturbances of a most threatening kind.

This tour was a hurriedly arranged replacement for the cancelled visit to South Africa and, years later, it is easy to see that it should never have taken place with Pakistan in the throes of revolution. The Ceylon tour, cooked up because financial arrangements for a short Indian tour collapsed, was a serene ten-day interval before the chaos of Pakistan  The players came to no harm but they were continually at risk as law and order broke down, a situation that eventually led to civil war.

While the manager was unflappable, he could never be certain of a safe passage through the country with riots and demonstrations going on, but the Pakistan Board and High Commission officials persuaded M.C.C. not to abandon the tour until the third day of the final Test at Karachi got completely out-of-hand when rioters stormed into the ground. Fortunately, the team was able to get on the first flight out of Karachi.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

West Indies 1967-68

Next Test tour

Australia 1970-71

Next tour of Pakistan

1972-73

Members of the Test tour party (15  +  1)

Opening batsmen:  John Edrich, Roger Prideaux

Middle-order batsmen Colin Cowdrey, Basil D’Oliveira, Keith Fletcher, Tom Graveney

Wicket-keeper: John Murray, Alan Knott

Slow bowlers: Robin Hobbs, Derek Underwood, Pat Pocock

Fast bowlers: David Brown, Bob Cottam, Jeff Jones, John Snow

County representation:

Ex  -  Essex (2)

Gm - Glamorgan (1)

Kt  -  Kent (3)

Mx - Middlesex (1)

Nth - Northamptonshire (2)

Sy - Surrey (2)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Wo  - Worcestershire (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(21 February 1969) :

 29 yrs 2 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Cowdrey 101, Graveney 75, Edrich 31, Murray 21, Brown 19, Snow 18, D'Oliveira 16, Jones 15, Knott 9, Underwood 8, Milburn 8, Hobbs 5, Pocock 3, Fletcher 1, Prideaux 1, Cottam 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Doug Insole (chairman),  Les Ames,  Alec Bedser,  Colin Cowdrey,  Don Kenyon,  Peter May.

Selection

Unavailable : Ray Illingworth and Barry Knight (ruled out by M.C.C. for publishing articles without permission)

Tour party announced :  2 December 1968.

The team was the same as that selected for South Africa

Withdrawn:  Geoff Boycott (he withdrew on 6 October fearing the health risks after having his spleen removed). Then Ken Barrington withdrew on 18 October (having suffered a mild heart attack in Australia).  On 2 December it was announced that Robin Hobbs alone would replace the two batsmen, and the team was reduced to a squad of fiteen.

Not selected:  Colin Milburn was named as reserve, but was not available for the whole tour because of an agreement to play for Western Australia.

Time between selection and departure from England

   50 days

 (2 December - 21 January

Travel

London  Q  Colombo

Holding their souvenir razors and foam from sponsors Gillette, the team flew from London Airport on 21 January 1969, arriving in Colombo the next day.

M.C.C were due to fly to East Pakistan on 3 February and play at Chittagong next day, and then in the first Test at Dacca on 8 February, but this part of the tour was cancelled because of rioting.

After the Ceylon tour, they flew out of Katunayeke at 10:15 am on 2 February to Karachi.

Time spent in Pakistan

    34 days

(2 February -   8 March)

On-tour selection panel

Colin Cowdrey (captain),  Tom Graveney (vice-captain),  Les Ames (manager)

Reinforcements

Colin Milburn was playing for Western Australia. He flew into Dacca when Cowdrey's fitness was in doubt. 

Jeff Jones flew home early from Karachi on 3 February with an elbow injury. There was no replacement.

Fixtures/Results

Colombo Oval later became the P Saravannamuttu Stadium (PSS)

� not first-class

Time spent in Pakistan before First Test:   2 days

(2 February -

Test appearances on tour

3  -   Brown,  Cowdrey,  D'Oliveira,  Edrich,  Fletcher,  Graveney,  Knott,  Underwood.

2  -   Cottam,  Prideaux,  Snow.

1  -   Hobbs,  Milburn,  Pocock.

0  -   Jones,  Murray.

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

• 

•  Basil D'Oliveira played a superb innings of 117 on a difficult pitch in the second Test match at Dacca

•  Colin Milburn's storming 139 at Karachi suggested he should have been in the tour party from the start.

•  Knott (96*) was denied his first Test century by an invasion of spectators that turned into a riot.

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Karachi  Q  Heathrow Airport

Jeff Jones flew home early from Karachi on 3 February with an elbow injury.

Colin Cowdrey also returned home slightly earlier than the rest of the team on the death of his father-in-law.

The Test match was abandoned as a draw when a mob, furious that cricket was being played on a day marked for remembrance of those killed in the recent political riots, stormed into Karachi’s National Stadium.

The team's plane took off from Quaid-e-Azam Airport, Karachi, on the evening of 8 March and flew via Cairo, Rome and Paris (being delayed at each stop) to Heathrow Airport, London.

Time away from England

  47 days  

(21 January - 9 March)

Finances

“The South African trip was a long one, around four months, but the MCC decided to pay the players the same amount for the six-week trip to Ceylon and Pakistan, making it well worth their while to go.”Martin Chandler (2010)

The tour was guaranteed for £5000 by the Burmah Oil Company

Accounts of the Tour

“The Forgotten Tour”  by Martin Chandler (2010)   http://www.cricketweb.net/blog/features/264.php

“Sporting Wickets"  by Qamaruddin Butt (1969)

Postscript

Other tours in 1968-69

West Indians in Australia & New Zealand 1968-69  -  captain Gary Sobers