Tour of  Australia & India 1979-80            Captain : Mike Brearley       

England’s sixtieth Test tour

(November 1979 -

                February 1980)

31st Test-playing tour of Australia by England

      (previous tour 1978-79)

Eighth Test-playing tour of India by England

      (previous tour 1976-77)

The tour was arranged in haste once the settlement was made with Kerry Packer and details not finalised before England arrived. Willis missed the first tour match while accompanying George Mann, the TCCB Chairman, to complete arrangements at a meeting in Melbourne.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

Australia 1978-79

Next Test tour

West Indies 1980-81

Next tour of  Australia

1982-83

Members of the Test tour party (16  +  2)

Opening batsmen:  Geoff Boycott, Mike Brearley, Wayne Larkins

Middle-order batsmen Graham Gooch, David Gower, Peter Willey, Derek Randall

Wicket-keepers: Bob Taylor, David Bairstow

All-rounder:  Ian Botham

Slow bowlers: Derek Underwood, Geoff Miller (replaced by John Emburey)

Fast bowlers: Bob Willis, John Lever, Graham Dilley, Mike Hendrick (replaced by Graham Stevenson).

County representation:

Dy – Derbyshire (3)

Ex  -  Essex (2)

Kt  -  Kent (2)

Le -  Leicestershire (1)

Mx - Middlesex (1)

Nth - Northamptonshire (2)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (1)

Sm - Somerset (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(14 December 1979) :

 29 years  9 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Boycott 84,  Underwood 74,  Willis 50,  Brearley 31,  Hendrick 25,  Randall 25,  Miller 23,  Taylor 22,  Botham 21,  Gooch 17,  Gower 16,  Lever 15,  Emburey 5,  Willey 3,  Bairstow 1,  Dilley 0,  Larkins 0,  Stevenson 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Alec Bedser (chairman), Ken Barrington,  Mike Brearley,  Donald Carr,  Brian Close,  Charlie Elliott and  Peter May chose the team at a seven-hour meeting at Lord's.

Selection

The manager was appointed on 16 August and the captain on 29 August.

Selection of the team was delayed by pay negotiations, from 4 September, the last day of the final Test against India, until 10 September.

Unavailable :   Chris Old.

Tour party announced :  10 September 1979.

Not selected : Mike Gatting,  Phil Edmonds

Time between selection and departure from England

   55 days

 (10 September - 4 November)

Travel

London  Q   Sydney

On 4 November 1979 the team flew from London, via Bahrain and Singapore, and arrived in Sydney on 6 November, the same day as the West Indians.

At his press conference Brearley expressed reservations about the experimental playing conditions like fielding circles, which the press reported as 'Moaning Brearley flies in'. After four days of settling in, the team flew to Brisbane.

Time spent in Australia

    94 days

(6 November -  8 February)

On-tour selection panel

Mike Brearley (captain),  Ken Barrington (assistant manager),  Alec Bedser (manager),  Bob Willis (vice-captain),  Ian Botham

Reinforcements

Graham Stevenson flew out from England on 26 November to cover for Mike Hendrick who had felt shoulder pains since the first playing day of the tour. Hendrick returned home a week later on 3 December.

Tony Pigott (Sussex), on a Whitbread scholarship with a grade team in Sydney, helped out at practice sessions when Mike Hendrick was unfit.

John Emburey was playing cricket for St Kilda in Melbourne, and was brought in for Geoff Miller who returned home from Sydney on 28 December with fibrositis.

The other tour reserve not called upon was Paul Parker (Sussex)

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

§ one-day internationals

(Benson & Hedges World Series Cup)

Time spent in Australia before First Test:   38 days

(6 November - 14 December)

Test appearances on tour

   v Australia 1979-80

   v India 1979-80

4 -  Botham,  Boycott,  Brearley,  Gower,  Taylor,  Underwood.

3 -  Gooch,  Willey,  Willis.

2 -  Dilley,  Larkins,  Lever,  Randall.

1 -  Miller.

0 -  Bairstow,  Hendrick.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

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

Bombay  Q  London

The team arrived in Bombay for the Jubilee celebrations and Test match on 9 February ; and flew home after the Test match on 20 February 1980. The team arrived home at Heathrow Airport on 21 February.

Time away from England

  108 days 

 (4 November - 20 February)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

"Cricket Contest: The Post-Packer Tests"   by Christopher Martin-Jenkins (Queen Anne Press, 1980)

"War or Peace"   by Frank Tyson (Garry Sparke &​ Associates, 1980)

"Deadly Down Under"  by Derek Underwood (Littlehampton, 1980)

"Opening Up"  by Geoffrey Boycott  (Arthur Barker, 1980)

“Frindall’s Scorebook : Australia v West Indies and England: Volume 6 ”  Bill Frindall (Queen Anne Press 1980)

Postscript

On landing at Heathrow, tour manager Alec Bedser was asked in his capacity as chairman of selectors about Ian Botham becoming England captain and replied “His cricketing talents are a bit like Keith Miller’s but he was a terrible captain.”

Other tours in 1979-80

Australians in India 1979-80  -  captain Kim Hughes

West Indians to Australia & New Zealand 1979-80  -  captain Clive Lloyd

Pakistanis in India 1979-80  -  captain  Asif Iqbal

Australians in Pakistan 1979-80  -  captain Greg Chappell