New Zealand cricket team in England in 1931
Encyclopedia
The New Zealand cricket team
toured England in the 1931 season
. The tour was the first tour by a New Zealand team in which Test matches
were arranged. Originally, only one Test was planned, but New Zealand acquitted themselves so well in the first match and in the game against MCC
that matches against Surrey
and Lancashire
were hastily replaced by two further Test matches. Of the three Tests played, the first was drawn, the second was won comfortably by England
and the third was ruined by rain. The tour as a whole was blighted by poor weather, and 23 of the 32 first-class
matches ended as draws.
, allowed for the first time delegates from India, New Zealand and the West Indies to attend. The three were invited to organise themselves into cricket boards that could, in future, select representative teams to take part in Test matches, which had hitherto been restricted to sides from England, Australia and South Africa.
A non-Test playing visit from a side from New Zealand
had already been arranged for the 1927 season, and this tour went ahead without Test matches before a decision was taken on whether New Zealand was ready for Test cricket. In the event, the 1927 side did well enough to get an official (though scarcely full-strength) MCC tour agreed for 1929-30, in which New Zealand's first-ever Tests were played. And future New Zealand tours of England, from this 1931 tour onwards, were full Test match tours.
, the former Cambridge University
and Somerset
batsman. Lowry also acted as the tour manager for much of the season until A. T. Donnelly, the chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Council, arrived for the second half of the tour. According to Wisden
's 1932 edition, Allcott looked after the tour finances.
The touring side's players were:
Of the 14 players, 13 appeared in at least one Test match on the tour, the exception being Talbot, who never played Test cricket. Lowry, Allcott, Blunt, Dempster, James, Merritt, Mills and Page had been members of the 1927 touring team.
(five for 99) and Walter Robins
. Cromb and Merritt then reduced England to 190 for seven at the end of the first day, and Frank Woolley
had made 80 of those. On the Monday, an eighth wicket partnership of 246 between Leslie Ames (137) and Gubby Allen
(122) – still the record England eighth wicket partnership – took England to a lead of 230. Dempster, with 120, Page (104) and Blunt (96) all scored well in New Zealand's reply, and a late partship by Lowry and Allcott enabled the tourists to declare, setting England 240 to win in 140 minutes.
Second Test Match, The Oval
England (416 for four declared) beat New Zealand (193 and 197) by an innings and 26 runs. Centuries by Herbert Sutcliffe
, Duleepsinhji and Walter Hammond led England to a big total, and New Zealand, lacking Dempster, who was injured, wilted against Gubby Allen, who took five for 14 in 13 overs. Only Lowry, with 62, made runs and Maurice Tate
, though taking only one wicket, bowled 18 overs for just 15 runs. Following on, New Zealand's batsmen struggled again, with only Vivian (51), Blunt (43), Mills (30) and Kerr (28) getting a start. The match, which had lost some time to rain, was over in the mid-afternoon of the third day.
Third Test Match, Manchester
England (224 for three wickets) drew with New Zealand. Rain ruined the match, and a start could not be made until midway through the last afternoon. Sutcliffe, with an unbeaten 109, scored his second century of the series.
, MCC
, Northamptonshire
, Scotland
, Glamorgan
and Gloucestershire
. Apart from their Test defeat, they also lost to Middlesex
and Kent
.
The first two victories were perhaps the best performances of the season. In the very first match of the tour, Dempster hit 212 as New Zealand made 425 against Essex, and Merritt took 12 wickets for 130 runs (including eight for 41 in the second innings) as the toursist won by an innings and 48 runs. Three matches later, a strong MCC side with 10 amateurs was beaten by an innings and 122 runs: New Zealand made 302 for nine declared in an innings that, because of rain, took up the first two days. Then MCC were dismissed for 132, with Cromb taking six for 46, and then for just 48, with Merritt taking seven for 28.
. Four other players, Mills, Lowry, Vivian and Weir, passed 1,000 runs for the season in first-class matches, and Page reached 990. Every player except Allcott (who had scored two centuries in 1927) averaged 16 or more runs per innings.
The bowling was less successful, and though Merritt was again the leading wicket-taker, his 99 wickets cost 26.48 runs each. Vivian, with 64 first-class wickets to go alongside 1,002 runs, was the leading all-rounder, but Blunt's leg-spin was less effective, and his 34 wickets cost more than 34 runs apiece.
Wisden
reported that the fielding, which had been a weak point on the 1927 tour, was much improved, and as it had done after the 1927 tour it singled out the wicketkeeping of James for particular praise.
In the winter following the 1931 tour of England, New Zealand played the first Test matches against a side other than England, with the visit to New Zealand of a South African
side fresh from a heavy defeat in Australia. Eight of the 1931 side played in these matches, but Lowry had retired from Test cricket and the team was captained by Page. Both matches were lost, largely due to second innings batting failures.
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...
toured England in the 1931 season
1931 English cricket season
-Honours:*County Championship - Yorkshire*Minor Counties Championship - Leicestershire II*Wisden - Bill Bowes, Charles Dempster, James Langridge, Nawab of Pataudi, senior, Hedley Verity-Test series:...
. The tour was the first tour by a New Zealand team in which Test matches
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
were arranged. Originally, only one Test was planned, but New Zealand acquitted themselves so well in the first match and in the game against MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
that matches against Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
and Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
were hastily replaced by two further Test matches. Of the three Tests played, the first was drawn, the second was won comfortably by England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
and the third was ruined by rain. The tour as a whole was blighted by poor weather, and 23 of the 32 first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
matches ended as draws.
Background
In 1926, the Imperial Cricket Conference, forerunner of the International Cricket CouncilInternational Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
, allowed for the first time delegates from India, New Zealand and the West Indies to attend. The three were invited to organise themselves into cricket boards that could, in future, select representative teams to take part in Test matches, which had hitherto been restricted to sides from England, Australia and South Africa.
A non-Test playing visit from a side from New Zealand
New Zealand cricket team in England in 1927
The New Zealand cricket team toured England in the 1927 season. The team contained many of the players who would later play Test cricket for New Zealand, but the tour did not include any Test matches and the 1927 English cricket season was the last, apart from the Second World War years and the...
had already been arranged for the 1927 season, and this tour went ahead without Test matches before a decision was taken on whether New Zealand was ready for Test cricket. In the event, the 1927 side did well enough to get an official (though scarcely full-strength) MCC tour agreed for 1929-30, in which New Zealand's first-ever Tests were played. And future New Zealand tours of England, from this 1931 tour onwards, were full Test match tours.
The 1931 New Zealand team
As in 1927, the team was captained by Tom LowryTom Lowry
Thomas Coleman Lowry was a New Zealand cricketer. He played in the first seven Test matches that New Zealand ever played, captaining the team in all of them....
, the former Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
and Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
batsman. Lowry also acted as the tour manager for much of the season until A. T. Donnelly, the chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Council, arrived for the second half of the tour. According to Wisden
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
's 1932 edition, Allcott looked after the tour finances.
The touring side's players were:
- Tom LowryTom LowryThomas Coleman Lowry was a New Zealand cricketer. He played in the first seven Test matches that New Zealand ever played, captaining the team in all of them....
, captain (and reserve wicketkeeper) - Cyril AllcottCyril AllcottCyril Francis Walter Allcott played six Tests for New Zealand from 1930-32....
- Roger BluntRoger BluntRoger Charles Blunt played nine Tests for New Zealand....
- Ian CrombIan CrombIan Burns Cromb was a New Zealand cricketer who played in five Tests from 1931 to 1932....
- Stewie Dempster
- Ken JamesKen James (cricketer)Kenneth Cecil James , was a cricketer who played for Wellington, Northamptonshire and New Zealand.A wicket-keeper and a useful batsman, James first played for Wellington in 1923 and came to England with the first New Zealand touring party in 1927 ostensibly as second string to Tom Lowry...
, wicketkeeper - Jack KerrJack KerrJohn Lambert Kerr was a New Zealand cricketer who played seven Tests for the New Zealand cricket team before the Second World War...
- Mal MathesonMal MathesonAlexander Malcolm Matheson was a New Zealand cricketer who played in two Tests from 1930 to 1931....
- Bill Merritt
- Jackie MillsJohn Mills (cricketer)John Ernest 'Jackie' Mills was a New Zealand cricketer who played in seven Tests from 1930 to 1933....
- Curly PageCurly PageMilford Laurenson "Curly" Page was a cricketer who played for New Zealand and Canterbury. He was New Zealand's second Test captain, and captained 7 of the Tests in which he played...
- Ronald Talbot
- Giff VivianGiff VivianHenry Gifford Vivian was a New Zealand cricketer who played in seven Tests from 1931 to 1937. His son Graham, also played for the Black Caps....
- Lindsay WeirLindsay Weir (cricketer)Gordon Lindsay Weir played 11 Tests for New Zealand. He was known as Dad Weir. He was the world's oldest Test cricketer upon his death.-References:...
Of the 14 players, 13 appeared in at least one Test match on the tour, the exception being Talbot, who never played Test cricket. Lowry, Allcott, Blunt, Dempster, James, Merritt, Mills and Page had been members of the 1927 touring team.
The Test matches
A single Test match, at Lord's at the end of June, was scheduled. But the touring team did so well in this match and in the earlier showpiece match with MCC that county matches against Surrey and Lancashire later in the summer were replaced by further Tests.First Test Match, Lord's, 27–30 June 1931
New Zealand (224 and 469 for nine declared) drew with England (454 and 146 for five). Dempster made 53 and New Zealand were 132 for two at lunch on the first day, but the innings subsided against the spin of Ian PeeblesIan Peebles
Ian Alexander Ross Peebles was a cricketer who played for Oxford University, Middlesex, Scotland and England. After retiring from cricket he became a cricket writer, working as a journalist on The Sunday Times and as the author of many books on cricket.Peebles had one of the strangest...
(five for 99) and Walter Robins
Walter Robins
Robert Walter Vivian Robins was a dynamic English cricketer and footballer.Walter Robins was born in Stafford and was educated at Highgate School and Cambridge University. He played football for Nottingham Forest and first-class cricket for Middlesex, Cambridge University and England...
. Cromb and Merritt then reduced England to 190 for seven at the end of the first day, and Frank Woolley
Frank Woolley
Frank Edward Woolley was an English cricketer, one of the finest all-rounders the game has seen. In a career lasting more than thirty years, he scored more first-class runs than anyone but Sir Jack Hobbs, and took over 2,000 wickets at an average of under 20...
had made 80 of those. On the Monday, an eighth wicket partnership of 246 between Leslie Ames (137) and Gubby Allen
Gubby Allen
Sir George Oswald Browning "Gubby" Allen, CBE was a cricketer who played for Middlesex, Cambridge University, MCC and England. Australian-born, Allen was a fast bowler and hard-hitting lower-order batsman, who captained England in eleven Test matches...
(122) – still the record England eighth wicket partnership – took England to a lead of 230. Dempster, with 120, Page (104) and Blunt (96) all scored well in New Zealand's reply, and a late partship by Lowry and Allcott enabled the tourists to declare, setting England 240 to win in 140 minutes.
Second Test Match, The OvalThe OvalThe Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
, 29–31 July 1931
England (416 for four declared) beat New Zealand (193 and 197) by an innings and 26 runs. Centuries by Herbert SutcliffeHerbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars...
, Duleepsinhji and Walter Hammond led England to a big total, and New Zealand, lacking Dempster, who was injured, wilted against Gubby Allen, who took five for 14 in 13 overs. Only Lowry, with 62, made runs and Maurice Tate
Maurice Tate
Maurice William Tate was a Sussex and England cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s and the leader of England's Test bowling attack for a long time during this period...
, though taking only one wicket, bowled 18 overs for just 15 runs. Following on, New Zealand's batsmen struggled again, with only Vivian (51), Blunt (43), Mills (30) and Kerr (28) getting a start. The match, which had lost some time to rain, was over in the mid-afternoon of the third day.
Third Test Match, ManchesterOld Trafford (cricket)Old Trafford is a cricket ground situated on Talbot Road in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester. It has been the home of Lancashire County Cricket Club since its foundation in 1864, having been the ground of Manchester Cricket Club from 1857...
, 15–18 August 1931
England (224 for three wickets) drew with New Zealand. Rain ruined the match, and a start could not be made until midway through the last afternoon. Sutcliffe, with an unbeaten 109, scored his second century of the series.First-class and other matches
A total of 32 first-class matches, including the three Tests, were played, but only nine of them came to a definite result in a very wet summer. The New Zealanders won the matches against EssexEssex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
, MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
, Scotland
Scottish cricket team
The Scotland national cricket team represents Scotland in the game of cricket. They compete in the Clydesdale Bank 40 as the Scottish Saltires...
, Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
and Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
. Apart from their Test defeat, they also lost to Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
and Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
.
The first two victories were perhaps the best performances of the season. In the very first match of the tour, Dempster hit 212 as New Zealand made 425 against Essex, and Merritt took 12 wickets for 130 runs (including eight for 41 in the second innings) as the toursist won by an innings and 48 runs. Three matches later, a strong MCC side with 10 amateurs was beaten by an innings and 122 runs: New Zealand made 302 for nine declared in an innings that, because of rain, took up the first two days. Then MCC were dismissed for 132, with Cromb taking six for 46, and then for just 48, with Merritt taking seven for 28.
Leading players
As in 1927, New Zealand's batting proved rather stronger than the bowling, and Dempster, with 1,778 runs at an average of 59.26 runs per innings, finished fifth in the overall season's averages and top of the tourists' averages. As in 1927, Blunt finished second to Dempster, and his record of 1,592 runs at 43.02 was very similar to his own record in 1927 and also included the highest individual score of the tour, an unbeaten 225 against the Gentlemen of England at EastbourneEastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
. Four other players, Mills, Lowry, Vivian and Weir, passed 1,000 runs for the season in first-class matches, and Page reached 990. Every player except Allcott (who had scored two centuries in 1927) averaged 16 or more runs per innings.
The bowling was less successful, and though Merritt was again the leading wicket-taker, his 99 wickets cost 26.48 runs each. Vivian, with 64 first-class wickets to go alongside 1,002 runs, was the leading all-rounder, but Blunt's leg-spin was less effective, and his 34 wickets cost more than 34 runs apiece.
Wisden
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
reported that the fielding, which had been a weak point on the 1927 tour, was much improved, and as it had done after the 1927 tour it singled out the wicketkeeping of James for particular praise.
Verdict and aftermath
Wisden reported that the touring team approached the season realistically, not expecting to win many matches but seeking to learn from the experience. The almanack took the view that it had been a mistake to expand the Test match programme to three matches after the success against MCC and the draw in the Lord's Test, but noted that the finances had suffered because of the wet summer, and that this may have influenced the decision.In the winter following the 1931 tour of England, New Zealand played the first Test matches against a side other than England, with the visit to New Zealand of a South African
South African cricket team
The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...
side fresh from a heavy defeat in Australia. Eight of the 1931 side played in these matches, but Lowry had retired from Test cricket and the team was captained by Page. Both matches were lost, largely due to second innings batting failures.