Tour of  Australia & New Zealand 1970-71   Captain : Ray Illingworth     

England’s 53rd Test tour

(October 1970 - March 1971)

27th Test-playing tour of Australia by England

Ninth Test-playing tour of NZ  

     (previous tours 1965-66)

A decisive victory for England achieved in this Ashes series earned only half-hearted congratulations from the English cricketing establishment. The Cricket Council's blanket warning about demonstrations of dissent made to all English county players before the 1971 season could only be interpreted as disapproval of the attitude of Illingworth's team. The event that triggered all this came in the final Test at Sydney, where Ray Illingworth (‘He’s bowled one bouncer,’ he said, wagging a finger) showed he disagreed with the umpires' interpretation of intimidating fast bowling and their subsequent warning to John Snow.

A crowd disturbance followed whereupon Illingworth led his men from the field to wait until peace was restored - only to be told that England would forfeit the match unless they resumed the Test at once. In the previous Test Boycott had hurled his bat to the ground in reaction to being given run out and there were several further complaints about the standard of umpiring.

An extra Test at Melbourne, hastily arranged to replace the match abandoned without a ball bowled, was another contentious issue. The England team complained about the financial arrangements to which MCC had agreed and the amount of Test cricket they were being asked to play in a short period of time. To put it plainly, the captain and tour manager did not see eye to eye. It is a pity that acrimony should have veiled the splendid achievement by the English players, particularly Boycott, Knott and Snow as well as the leadership skills of Illingworth himself. Illingworth’s part in recovering the Ashes was subsequently recognised with the award of a CBE in the 1973 New Year honours.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

Pakistan 1968-69

Next Test tour

India & Pakistan 1972-73

 (1971-72 tour postponed)

Next tour of  Australia & NZ

 1974-75

Members of the Test tour party (16  + 1)

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

Middle-order batsmen Basil D’Oliveira, Keith Fletcher, Colin Cowdrey, John Hampshire

Wicket-keeper: Alan Knott, Bob Taylor

Slow bowlers: Ray Illingworth, Don Wilson, Derek Underwood

Fast bowlers: John Snow, Peter Lever, Ken Shuttleworth, Alan Ward (replaced by  Bob Willis)

County representation:

Dy – Derbyshire (2)

Ex  -  Essex (1)

Kt  -  Kent (4)

La - Lancashire (2)

Sy - Surrey (1)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wo - Worcestershire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(27 November 1970) :

  30 yrs 0 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Cowdrey 104,  Boycott 41,  Edrich 40,  Illingworth 36,  D'Oliveira 25,  Snow 25,  Knott 18,  Underwood 16,  Fletcher 6,  Wilson 5,  Ward 3,  Hampshire 2,  Lever 0,  Luckhurst 0,  Shuttleworth 0,  Taylor 0,  Willis 0.

Tour Officials

The choice of manager was announced on 29 June, and that of his assistant on 13 July.

Selectors

Alec Bedser (chairman), Don Kenyon,  Billy Sutcliffe,  Alan Smith,  Ray Illingworth (captain),  Colin Cowdrey (vice-captain),  David Clark (tour manager)

Selection

The captain was appointed on 20 July and vice-captain on 30 July

Unavailable :   none.

Tour party announced :  19 August 1970.

Not selected:   Tony Greig,  Dennis Amiss,  Chris Old,  Norman Gifford.

Time between selection and departure from England

   60 days

 (19 August - 18 October)

Travel

London  Q  Sydney

Melbourne   Q  Auckland

On 18 October 1970 the team flew from Heathrow Airport, London, (via Zurich, Tel Aviv, Tehran, Delhi) to Singapore for a 24-hour stopover.

Then to Perth and Sydney (where the luggage was unfortunately left behind) and reached Adelaide on 21 October. It was the first tour since 1920-21 not to commence at Perth.

The team flew from Melbourne to Auckland, New Zealand, on 19 February 1971.

Time spent in Australia

    121 days

(21 October -  19 February)

Time spent in New Zealand

    18 days

(19 February -  9 March 1971)

On-tour selection panel

Ray Illingworth (captain),  Colin Cowdrey (vice-captain),  John Edrich (senior professional),  David Clark (tour manager).

Reinforcements

The stand-by bowler, Bob Willis, rather than his more experienced county team-mate David Brown, was flown in to replace Alan Ward, who broke a bone in his ankle against New South Wales and returned home.

At one stage it seemed possible that Tom Graveney, playing for Queensland, would also be asked to join the party when Brian Luckhurst cracked a finger bone.

Ted Dexter was asked to play in a one-day match against Western Australia Country XI.

Ken Shuttleworth (groin) and Don Wilson (finger) each missed a month's cricket.

The tour selectors, on learning of the prospect of a seventh Test, asked that David Brown (Wk) and Tony Greig (Sx), playing for Eastern Province, should stand by, and even that Alan Ward should be flown back.

Near the end of the tour injured John Snow and Geoff Boycott returned home early without replacement. Boycott’s arm was broken against Western Australia at Sydney, and Snow’s hand fractured during the final (7th) Test.

Fixtures/Results

The Third Test was abandoned so an ODI was played on the last day. The upcoming matches against a Victorian Country XI and against Victoria were cancelled to make room for an additional Test match at Melbourne

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test:   27 days

(21 October - 17 November)

Test appearances on tour

v  Australia 1970-7 (6 Tests)

v New Zealand 1970-71 (2 Tests)

8 -   D'Oliveira, Edrich, Illingworth.

7 -  Knott, Lever, Luckhurst, Underwood.

6 -  Fletcher, Snow.

5 -  Boycott, Willis.

4 -  Cowdrey, Hampshire, Shuttleworth.

1 -  Taylor, Wilson.

0 -   Ward.

Match appearances

T  Test match

x other match 

p  practice match

 W won  L lost  D drawn

N no result   C  cancelled 

A abandoned

u unknown result

Highlights

•  John Snow started the series by capturing six wickets for 114 at Brisbane.

•  Brian Luckhurst made 74 and 20* on Test debut, and followed up with a century (131) in his second Test at Perth

•  Geoff Boycott, with scores of 77 and 142* at Sydney, laid the ground for England’s great victory

•  While Lawry carried his bat for Australia, John Snow ripped through the Australia batting, taking 7-40 at Sydney.

•  Luckhurst scored his second century (109) and D’Oliveira (117) at Melbourne but both were injured in doing so

•  Geoff Boycott (76*) and John Edrich (74*)  made 161 without loss in England’s 2nd innings at Melbourne

•  They both then hit hundreds (Edrich 130, Boycott 119*) at Adelaide, sharing opening stands of 100 in both innings

•  England won the seventh Test at Sydney (Underwood 2-28 and Illingworth 3-39) to recapture The Ashes.

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Auckland   Q   London

Alan Ward returned to England early owing to his ankle injury.

Geoffrey Boycott and John Snow returned to England after the final Test in Australia, also because of injury.

The M.C.C. party left Auckland Airport on 9 March and flew via Nandi (Fiji), Honolulu (Hawaii), Los Angeles and New York to reach Heathrow Airport, London, on the evening of 10 March 1971.

Time away from England

  143 days  

(18 October - 10 March)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

"Captains Outrageous"   by  R S Whitington (Hutchinson, 1972)

Postscript

Other Test tours in 1970-71

Indians to West Indies 1970-71