Tour of  Australia & New Zealand 1958-59         Captain : Peter May       

England’s 44th Test tour

(September 1958 -

         March 1959)

24th Test-playing tour of Australia by England

Sixth Test-playing tour of New Zealand by England

     (previous tours 1954-55)

Once Johnny Wardle had been sacked by Yorkshire C.C.C. for publishing critical newspaper articles, M.C.C. then dropped him from their team to Australia. The selectors discussed making a replacement on 24 August but three days later announced their decision to do without one and took only sixteen players.  But within a month of reaching Australia, the tour committee called for Mortimore and Dexter to be sent out.

M.C.C.'s twelfth tour of Australia was the first with a curtailed programme, following complaints after 1954-55 that the tour had been excessively long for the players.  M.C.C. stated that the tour would have to be shortened by two weeks. Two-day country games were cut from the Australian itinerary which angered Australian officials who felt the M.C.C. visits fostered cricket in country districts.

The formidable England team of the 1950's was breaking up. Since 1951 England had played in 66 Test matches and lost only eight. Now they lost four of the five matches in this Ashes series.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

South Africa 1956-57

Next Test tour

West Indies 1959-60

Next tour of  Australia  &  N Z

1962-63

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen:  Peter Richardson, Arthur Milton, Raman Subba Row

Middle-order batsmen Peter May, Colin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney, Willie Watson plus Ted Dexter reinforcement

Wicket-keeper: Godfrey Evans, Roy Swetman

All-rounder:  Trevor Bailey

Slow bowlers: Jim Laker, Tony Lock plusJohn Mortimore reinforcement

Fast bowlers: Frank Tyson, Fred Trueman, Brian Statham, Peter Loader

County representation:

Ex  -  Essex (1

Gs - Gloucestershire (2)

Kt  -  Kent (2)

La - Lancashire (1)

Nth - Northamptonshire (2)

Sy - Surrey (5)

Wo - Worcestershire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(5 December 1958) :

   30 yrs 7 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Evans 86,  Bailey 56,  May 49,  Laker 42,  Graveney 41, Statham 40,  Cowdrey 27,  Lock 25,  Trueman 21,  Richardson 19,  Watson 19,  Tyson 13,  Loader 11,  Milton 2,  Dexter 1,  Subba Row 1,  Mortimore 0,  Swetman 0.

Tour Officials

 M.C.C. announced the names of the manager and assistant manager on 10 July.

Selectors

Gubby Allen (chairman),  Les Ames,  Freddie Brown,  H.E.’Tom’ Dollery,  Doug Insole,  Billy Griffith,  Brian Sellers, Wilf Wooller and  Peter May (captain) chose the team from the 25 names (announced on 14 July) asked whether available.

Selection

Unavailable : Rev David Sheppard stated on 24 February that his work at The Mayflower Centre in East London prevented him from touring.

Johnny Wardle and Jim Laker were not available at first for family reasons, but changed their minds.

Tour party announced : 27 July 1958.

Not selected : Of those asked whether they could tour, Keith Andrew,  Ted Dexter, Ray Illingworth, Doug Insole, Alan Moss, Don Smith and Mike Smith were not picked.

Withdrawn:. The M.C.C. Committee met at Lord's on 19 August and dropped Johnny Wardle from the selected tour party and a week later announced that he would not be replaced in the side.

Time between selection and departure from England

   62 days

 (27 July - 27 September)

Travel

Tilbury    T   Fremantle

             ‘Iberia’

The team sailed out of Tilbury on the 'Iberia' on 27 September. By disembarking at Bombay, and flying to Colombo they made time to fit in two matches in Ceylon, where they landed on 5 October. On the way from the airport to a reception at the home of a former Prime Minister, Bailey and Tyson's car was involved in a road accident.

The team left Colombo on the 'Iberia'  on Tuesday 7 October. Watson, who had injured a knee, flew on to Perth. The ship reached Fremantle on 13 October.

Twelve players flew to Harewood Airport, Christchurch, NZ, on 20 February

Time spent in Australia

    130 days

(13 October -  20 February)

in New Zealand:    30 days

(20 February - 22 ? March)

On-tour selection panel

Peter May (captain),   Freddie Brown (manager),   Colin Cowdrey (vice-captain),   Trevor Bailey.

Reinforcements

Willie Watson had a recurrence of a knee injury which required an operation and he could not play until Brisbane. Ted Dexter and John Mortimore were summoned to cover for injuries to Subba Row (fractured wrist), Watson (knee) and Milton (hand injury). Mortimore was called for on 17 November.

Dexter was in Paris when the call came and he withdrew from an M.C.C. cricket tour of South America in order ro take up the offer.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test:   2 days

(13 October - 17 November)

Test appearances on tour

(v Australia and NZ 1958-59)

7 -   Cowdrey,  Graveney,  May.

6 -   Lock,  Richardson.

5 -   Bailey,  Trueman.

4 -   Dexter,  Laker,  Statham,  Swetman,  Tyson,  Watson.

3 -   Evans,  Mortimore.

2 -   Loader,  Milton.

1 - 

0 -   Subba Row.

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

•  T

• 

• 

• 

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Auckland  Q  London

Milton returned early due to a hand injury, and a road accident prevented Statham and Loader from participating in the final Australian matches. Bailey, Evans, Laker, Loader, Milton and Statham did not tour New Zealand.

Twelve players flew to Harewood Airport, Christchurch, NZ, on 20 February. Freddie Brown (despite declaring his dislike of fielding) and Desmond Eager were ready to play if necessary.

The tour ended at Auckland.  May, Watson, Graveney, Mortimore, Trueman, Duckworth and Montague flew by way of the United States and reached London on 23 March.  Dexter, Eager, Cowdrey, Swetman and Subba Row flew via Sydney and Singapore. Their plane lost power in an engine approaching Thailand and had to go back to Singapore for another day - a six-hour flight for nothing.  This group of players returned via Beirut on 25 March.

Richardson returned via Singapore on 15 April ; his arm was slightly burned when the plane made an emergency landing at Beirut Airport.  Tyson remained in Australia. Brown returned by sea.

Time away from England

  163 days  

(13 October - 25 March)

Finances

M.C.C. had tour expenses of £A 55000 in Australia and made £A 35 000 profit  (£16 500).

In New Zealand all expenses were met and profits retained by the NZ Cricket Council..

Accounts of the tour

"May's Men in Australia"   by Alec Bedser (Stanley Paul, 1959)

“Round the Wicket”  by Bill Edrich (Muller, 1959)

"England Down Under: the M.C.C. tour of Australia" by John Kay (Sporting Handbooks, 1959)

"Four Chukkas to Australia" by Jack Fingleton (Heinemann, 1960)

"Cricket from the Grandstand" by Keith Miller (Oldbourne, 1959)

"Benaud & Co"  by A.G. 'Johnny' Moyes (Angus & Robertson, 1960)

"The Fight for The Ashes" by Ian Peebles (George Harrap, 1959)

"The Ashes Thrown Away"  by E M Wellings (Bailey Bros, 1959)

"The Ashes Go Home: England Tour of Australia 1958-59)"  by Crawford White (News Chronicle, 1959)

Postscript

Other tours in 1958-59

West Indians to India and Pakistan 1958-59