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English cricket team in New Zealand in 1929–30

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The England national cricket team toured Ceylon, Australia and New Zealand in the 1929–30 season to play a Test series against the New Zealand national cricket team. This was the first Test series ever played by New Zealand. England began the tour in October 1929 in Ceylon with a single minor match and then in Australia where they played five first-class matches. The New Zealand leg of the tour began in December and, in addition to the Test series, England played each of the main provincial teams: Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.[1] England, captained by Harold Gilligan, won the Test series 1–0 with three matches drawn.

At the same time another English team, captained by Freddie Calthorpe, was touring the West Indies, playing the first Test series there.[2] It was the only time one country has played in two Test matches on the same day.[3]

The English team

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Apart from Woolley, who had played 55 Tests before the tour, it was an inexperienced side at Test level. Bowley had played two Tests, and Barratt, Dawson, Duleepsinhji and Legge one each; the other eight had not played a Test.[4] There were eight amateurs and six professionals.[5]

The team was selected in late June, with Arthur Gilligan, who had played 11 Tests, as captain.[6] However, he was unable to tour owing to illness, and his younger brother Harold was selected to replace him. The other change to the original selected team was that Maurice Allom replaced Frank Watson.[7]

Test Matches

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First Test

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10–13 January 1930
Scorecard
v
112 (47.1 overs)
Roger Blunt 47
Maurice Allom 5/38 (19 overs)
181 (63.1 overs)
Duleepsinhji 49
Roger Blunt 3/17 (11.1 overs)
131 (60.3 overs)
Tom Lowry 40
Maurice Allom 3/17 (15 overs)
66/2 (18.5 overs)
Duleepsinhji 33*
Roger Blunt 2/17 (7 overs)
England won by 8 wickets
Lancaster Park, Christchurch
Umpires: William Butler (NZ) and Kenneth Cave (NZ)

Second Test

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24–27 January 1930
Scorecard
v
440 (136.3 overs)
Stewie Dempster 136
Frank Woolley 7/76 (28.3 overs)
320 (107.5 overs)
Stan Nichols 78*
Ted Badcock 4/80 (36 overs)
166/4d (53 overs)
Stewie Dempster 80*
Frank Woolley 2/48 (23 overs)
107/4 (39 overs)
Duleepsinhji 56*
Lindsay Weir 1/1 (2 overs)
Match drawn
Basin Reserve, Wellington
Umpires: Kenneth Cave (NZ) and Thomas Cobcroft (NZ)
  • New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat.
  • Three players debuted for New Zealand - Eddie McLeod, Jackie Mills, and Lindsay Weir.
  • Stewie Dempster's 136 in the first innings was the first Test century by a New Zealander.
  • Stewie Dempster and Jackie Mills' 276 run opening partnership was the highest for New Zealand and third highest ever in Test cricket.
  • Frank Woolley passed 3000 Test runs, becoming the second English player and fourth player in Test cricket to pass the mark.

Third Test

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14–17 February 1930
Scorecard
v
330/4d (88 overs)
KS Duleepsinhji 117
WE Merritt 2/119 (28 overs)
96/1 (34 overs)
CS Dempster 62*
F Barratt 1/26 (12 overs)
Match drawn
Eden Park, Auckland
Umpires: KH Cave and LT Cobcroft
  • New Zealand won the toss and elected to field.
  • 16 February was taken as a rest day
  • There was no play on the first or second day. Therefore, a fourth Test was arranged.
  • CFW Allcott and HM McGirr (both NZ) made their Test debuts.

Fourth Test

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21–24 February 1930
Scorecard
v
540 (171.4 overs)
GB Legge 196
RC Blunt 2/61 (21 overs)
387 (166.1 overs)
TC Lowry 80
MJC Allom 4/42 (26.1 overs)
22/3 (12.3 overs)
MS Nichols 7*
AM Matheson 2/7 (5 overs)
Match drawn
Eden Park, Auckland
Umpires: KH Cave and LT Cobcroft
  • England won the toss and elected to bat.
  • 23 February was taken as a rest day.
  • AM Matheson (NZ) made his Test debut.

Assessments

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The tour made a small profit for the New Zealand Cricket Council, despite the unusually wet summer, but some of this profit had to be used to pay the English team's professionals. The council's chairman, Arthur Donnelly, declared that the English team were "the most agreeable and pleasant lot of fellows" the council had ever dealt with.[10]

In its report of the tour, The Cricketer said the New Zealand batting was strong, but the bowling and fielding needed substantial improvement. It said the general standard of cricket throughout New Zealand was rising, "but except in the Test matches the placing of the field was none too good, and the bowlers suffered accordingly. The umpiring, apart from the Tests, was only moderate."[11]

References

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  1. ^ CricketArchive – tour itinerary
  2. ^ "New Zealand v England – statistical quirks". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  3. ^ "Quick, quick Snow". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  4. ^ "England to New Zealand 1929-30". Test Cricket Tours. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  5. ^ Don Neely & Richard Payne, Men in White: The History of New Zealand International Cricket, 1894–1985, Moa, Auckland, 1986, pp. 100–103.
  6. ^ "M.C.C. tour: New Zealand plans". Evening Post: 8. 18 July 1929. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Cricket: M.C.C. team to visit New Zealand". Press: 9. 31 August 1929. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  8. ^ Four wickets in five balls
  9. ^ Wicket with first ball
  10. ^ "Cricket Tour Finance". New Zealand Herald: 10. 4 March 1930.
  11. ^ "M.C.C. Australasian Tour", The Cricketer, Spring Annual 1930, pp. 68–78.
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