Tour of  West Indies 1973-74                      Captain : Mike Denness       

England’s 55th Test tour.

(January 1973 - April 1974)

Seventh Test-playing tour of West Indies by England

  (previous tour 1967-68)

If he had been fit enough to play for Glamorgan in the previous summer, Tony Lewis would have been first choice for the captaincy once the West Indies’ victory at Lord’s had swept Illingworth out of consideration. The selectors turned to successful county captain Mike Denness, a fact leaked by the press several days before the official announcement.

Against long odds Denness’s team won the final Test at to square the series one-all.  Ironically, Denness’s main rivals for the captaincy Greig and Boycott contributed the vital runs and wickets.

Earlier in a controversial incident at Port of Spain Tony Greig had run out Kallicharran off the last ball of the day’s play. The West Indies Board and M.C.C. handled the matter quickly to make clear that Greig would not be disciplined nor the progress of the tour affected because the appeal against Kallicharran had been withdrawn and he could resume his innings.

The tour concluded with a brief visit to Bermuda to play two matches.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

India and Pakistan 1972-73

Next Test tour

Australia 1974-75

Next tour of  West Indies

1980-81

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen:  Geoff Boycott, Dennis Amiss, John Jameson

Middle-order batsmen Keith Fletcher, Mike Denness, Frank Hayes

Wicket-keeper: Alan Knott, Bob Taylor

All-rounder:  Tony Greig

Slow bowlers: Derek Underwood, Jack Birkenshaw, Pat Pocock

Fast bowlers: Mike Hendrick, Bob Willis, Chris Old, Geoff Arnold

County representation:

Dy – Derbyshire (2)

Ex  -  Essex (1)

Kt  -  Kent (3)

Le -  Leicestershire (2)

Sy - Surrey (2)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (3)

Yo - Yorkshire (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(2 February 1974) :

    28 yrs 10 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Boycott 58,  Knott 51,  Underwood 38,  Fletcher 29,  Amiss 21,  Greig 19,  Arnold 19,  Pocock 11,  Denness 9,  Old 8,  Willis 6,  Birkenshaw 3,  Hayes 3,  Jameson 2,  Taylor 1,  Hendrick 0.

Tour Officials

Mike Turner, the Leicestershire C.C.C. secretary, declined an offer to manager the tour.

Selectors

Alec Bedser (chairman), Donald Carr,  Aidan Crawley,  Mike Denness (captain),  Alan Smith,  Brian Taylor,  Ossie Wheatley.

Selection

The captain was chosen on 27 August and his name announced on 31 August.

Not considered:  Phil Edmonds, Cambridge University captain and left-arm spinner, having been born in Zambia, was not qualified to play for England until 1974.

Tour Party Announced  : 9 September 1973.

Not selected:    Ray Illingworth,  Graham Roope,  John Snow.

Time between selection and departure from England

   124 days

 (9 September - 11 January)

Travel

London  Q  Bridgetown

The team left England on 11 January 1974, flying from Heathrow Airport to Seawell Airport, Bridgetown, Barbados.

Time spent in West Indies

    days

(11 January -  11 April)

On-tour selection panel

Mike Denness (captain),  Tony Greig , Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Carr (tour manager).

Reinforcements

None

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test:   2 days

(11 January - 2 February)

Test appearances on tour

(v West Indies 1973-74)

5 -  Amiss,  Boycott,  Denness,  Greig,  Knott.

4 -  Fletcher,  Hayes,  Old,  Pocock,  Underwood

3 -  Arnold,  Willis.

2 -  Birkenshaw,  Jameson

1 - 

0 -  Hendrick,  Taylor.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

W won  L lost  D drawn  T  tied

N no result   A abandoned

C   cancelled  u unknown result

It is debatable whether the second match against Windward Islands on 19 January was actually a fresh match, or simply the first carried on as one without f-c- status? John Woodcock in The Times wrote “…for two hours and a half play was possible, though in such poor conditions that the match was stripped of its first-class status”   

England’s six previous Test tour results

Highlights

•  T

• 

• 

• 

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Trinidad  Q  Bermuda  Q  London

The team flew from Piarco Airport, Trinidad, and arrrived in Bermuda on Saturday 6 April to play two friendly matches. They flew back to Heathrow Airport on 11 April.

Time away from England

  90 days  

(11 January - 11 April)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

"Testing Time"   by Christopher Martin-Jenkins  (MacDonald and Janes, 1974)

Postscript

Other tours in 1973-74

New Zealanders to Australia  1973-74 -  captain Bevan Congdon

Australians to New Zealand 1973-74  -  captain Ian Chappell

Acknowledgements

To general reading of The Times newspaper digital archive (Gale Group);  Jamaica Gleanor archive;  National Library of Australia Trove; Papers Past NZ.

From former British Newspaper Library, Colindale and online:  The Age, Melbourne Argus, Bangladesh Daily Star, Barbados Advocate, Canberra Times, Daily Telegraph, Dawn, Eastern Daily Press, The Hindu, The Independent (Dhaka), Indian Express, The Island (Lanka), Lahore Times, New Nation, New Zealand Auckland Herald, Sri Lanka Daily News, Stabroek News, Straits Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Telegraph (Calcutta), Times of India , The Tribune Chandigarh, Trinidad Guardian, The West Australian.

cricketweb.net;  ESPN cricinfo;  cricket archive; www.cricketcountry; www.coverpoint

Magazines/periodicals including Australian Cricket, B & H West Indies Annual, The Cricketer International, Cricketer Quarterly, Indian Cricket, Indian Cricket Field Annual, Playfair Cricket Monthly, Shell Cricket Almanack of New Zealand, Wisden Cricket Monthly, Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack.

Men In White, A History of Australian Cricket (Harte), A History of Indian Cricket (Bose), A History of West Indies Cricket (Manley)

Biography and tour books (own collection and at the M.C.C. Library at Lord’s Ground)                                              ALL CONTENTS OF THE TEST-CRICKET-TOURS.CO.UK WEBSITE  ARE COPYRIGHT