Tour of  Australia & New Zealand 1965-66      Captain : Mike Smith      

England’s 50th Test tour

(October 1965 – March 1966)

26th Test-playing tour of Australia by England

Eighth Test-playing tour of New Zealand by England

   (previous tours 1962-63)

Once Dexter had announced he would not be available for the tour (in any event he broke his leg in a traffic accident), Mike Smith led England in the 1965 summer's six Test matches and won the tour captaincy to Australia. Smith's relaxed team management skills made for strong team spirit.

After the first game in Ceylon had petered out to a rain-ruined draw, the local press slammed the tourists' antics, describing "clowning more in keeping with the village green exhibitionists than the M.C.C."  Also in Ceylon there was widespread stomach illness.  Constant illness and injury heralded the start of the tour, with Titmus and Boycott unable to start the tour. Then the fast bowlers broke down and Barry Knight had to be drafted into the side.

As in 1962-63, the Test series in Australia was a disappointing one with England failing to retain the Ashes despite the promising start. England had reached a winning position in the second Test before being held up by a century from Burge, and then trounced Australia at Sydney where Bob Barber played one of the greatest innings by an England batsman. But Australia fought back with an enormous partnership of 244 between Simpson and Lawry leading to an innings defeat at Adelaide. A drawn series meant that Australia retained the Ashes.

The Test series against New Zealand was, as customary, a chore for the tourists who had already been away from home for four months, and all three matches were drawn amid much rainy weather.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

South Africa 1964-65

Next Test tour

West Indies 1967-68

Next tour of  Australia and NZ

1970-71

Members of the Test tour party (16  + 1)

Opening batsmen:  Geoff Boycott, John Edrich, Bob Barber

Middle-order batsmen Colin Cowdrey, Ken Barrington, Mike Smith, Eric Russell, Peter Parfitt

Wicket-keepers: Jim Parks, John Murray

Slow bowlers: Fred Titmus, David Allen

Fast bowlers: Ken Higgs, David Larter, Jeff Jones, David Brown and Barry Knight (reinforcement).

County representation:

Gm - Glamorgan (1)

Gs - Gloucestershire (1)

Kt  -  Kent (1)

La - Lancashire (1)

Mx - Middlesex (4)

Nth - Northamptonshire (1)

Sy - Surrey (2)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (3)

Yo - Yorkshire (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(10 December 1965) :

  29 yrs 7 months

• Not to New Zealand:  Barber, Barrington, Larter, Titmus.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Cowdrey 79,  Barrington 61,  Smith 38,  Titmus 37,  Parks 32,  Allen 31,  Parfitt 30,  Barber 20,  Knight 17,  Murray 15,  Boycott 13,  Edrich 10,  Larter 10,  Russell 3,  Brown 2,  Higgs 1,  Jones 1.

Team Officials

Selectors

Doug Insole (chairman),  G.O.’Gubby’ Allen,  Alec Bedser,  Freddie Brown,  S.C.’Billy’ Griffith,  Don Kenyon, Peter May,  Mike Smith.

Selection

Unavailable : On 11 May Ted Dexter stated that he was unlikely to be available for the tour, as either captain or player, for business reasons. Mike Smith therefore led England in the six Tests in the 1965 season.

The manager, Mr Billy Griffith, was appointed on 14 June and given wide powers to ensure the good reputation of the team.  Mike Smith was appointed captain on 11 August.

Not considered: 

Tour party announced : 15 August 1965.

Not selected:  Tony Lock,  Fred Rumsey,  John Snow,  Tom Graveney

Time between selection and departure from England

   days

 (15 August - 16 October)

Travel

London  Q  Colombo  Q  Perth

On Saturday 16 October 1965 the team flew from Heathrow Airport, London, to Colombo, arriving on 17 October for a two-match tour of Ceylon. Titmus could not leave London owing to illness and joined the team in Colombo on 20 October.

M.C.C. left Ceylon on 22 October and flew via Bangkok and Singapore (where Boycott remained with an attack of gastro-enteritis and sciatica), and reached Perth on 23 October (Boycott on 28 October). It was the first M.C.C. party to make the whole journey to Australia by air.

Time spent in Australia

    days

(23 October -  17 February)

On-tour selection panel

 Mike Smith,  Colin Cowdrey,  Ken Barrington,  Billy Griffith.

Reinforcements

Barry Knight arrived on 6 December when David Larter (bruised heel) and David Brown (pulled side muscles) were unfit and Jeff Jones was under threat of an umpire's ban for persistently running down the line of the wickets when bowling.

The manager played in two matches in Hong Kong because John Edrich developed appendicitis.

Fixtures/Results

Colombo Oval now P Sara Stadium

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test:  

 48 days

(23 October  - 10 December)

Test appearances on tour

v Australia 1965-66 (5 Tests)

v New Zealand 1965-66 (3 Tests)

8 -   Edrich,  Smith.

7 -   Allen,  Boycott,  Cowdrey,  Jones,  Parks.

6 -   Brown

5 -   Barber,  Barrington, Titmus

4 -   Higgs,  Knight,  Russell

3 -   Parfitt

2 - 

1 -   Murray

0 -   Larter.

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

•  Bob Barber and Geoff Boycott shared an opening partnership of 98 at Melbourne (2nd Test) in only 77 minutes.

•  John Edrich (109) and Colin Cowdrey (104) then added centuries, while four others passed fifty, and England’s 558 at Melbourne was their highest innings total in a Test in Australia since 1928-29.

•  Bob Barber (185) and Geoff Boycott (84) started the Sydney match with 234 in even time for the first wicket.

•  Dave Brown took 5-63, and then Fred Titmus 4-40 and David Allen 4-47, to defeat Australia by an innings.

•  Jeff Jones had 6-118, and Ken Barrington a century (102) at Adelaide but England went down to innings defeat

•  In the final Test at Sydney Ken Barrington struck another century (115) reaching his ton with a six.

•  David Allen’s highest Test score (88) came at Christchurch, and Ken Higgs his best bowling of the tour (4-5)

•  Allen’s bowling figures against New Zealand included 4-46 at Dunedin and 5-123 at Auckland

•  Colin Cowdrey shared a century partnership (118 with Russell) at Auckland, reaching his 6000th run in Tests

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Hong Kong  Q  London

The team flew from Sydney on 17 February for New Zealand, and were without Barber, Barrington, Larter and Titmus.

When M.C.C. left Auckland on 15 March, on the 18-hour flight to Hong Kong, Parfitt and Parks did not accompany them. Parks had his honeymoon in New Zealand and then sailed home on the 'Rangitane'.

John Edrich had appendicitis so manager Griffith had to play in Hong Kong.

M.C.C. had flown in to Kai Tak on 16 March with Miss D.Surfleet, the manager's secretary, and Jack Jennings, baggage master and scorer.  After two matches the team spent the morning of 20 March shopping and then flew out (with $10,000 of excess baggage).

Left Hong Kong on 21 March 1966, touching down at London Airport later the same day.  With skipper Mike Smith and team manager Mr S. C. Griffith, were Colin Cowdrey, David Allen, Geoff Boycott. David Brown, Ken Higgs, Jeff Jones, Barry Knight, John Murray and Eric Russell.

Time away from England

  156 days  

(16 October -  21 March)

Finances

The tour profit of about $37,500 showed a drop of $15,000 compared with the 1962-63 tour.

Accounts of the tour

"Quest for the Ashes"   by Ken ‘Slasher’ Mackay, with Frank Callaghan  (Pelham, 1966)

"With England in Australia"   by John Clarke  (Stanley Paul, 1966)

“The 29th Tour"  by L.J.Henderson  (pub Cricketfigure, Sydney1966)  16-page pamphlet.   

Postcript

Other tours in 1965-66

None