Indian cricket team in England in 1959
Encyclopedia
The Indian cricket team
toured England in the 1959 season
. The team played five Test matches
against England
and lost them all: the first time that England had won all the matches in a five-match series. Only one of the Tests, the game at Manchester, went into the fifth day.
In all first-class matches, the Indian team won just six times and lost 11, with 16 of the 33 games left drawn.
in 1958-59 had been lost 3-0, and there had been four captains in the five Tests. Three of those four, Ghulam Ahmed
, Vinoo Mankad and Hemu Adhikari
, retired from Test cricket after that series and the 1959 touring party included a lot of unproven players.
England has also had a chastening experience in the run-up to the 1959 Test series. Having retained The Ashes
in 1956, overcome the West Indies' Ramadhin
and Valentine combination in 1957, and crushed New Zealand
in 1958, the team had been full of confidence that The Ashes would be retained in Australia
in 1958-59. In the event, the tour was a disaster, and Australia won 4-0.
was recruited at the end of the Oxford University
cricket season to take the place of the injured Vijay Manjrekar
. The team was captained by Datta Gaekwad
and managed by the Maharaja of Baroda
, himself a cricketer for Baroda and at 29 younger than several of the team.
The team was:
Gaekwad, Roy, Manjrekar and Umrigar had been members of the 1952 Indian team in England
. Though the team as a whole was not experienced, all except Apte, Baig, Jaisimha and Muddiah had played Test cricket before the tour, and 17 of the 18 players appeared in the 1959 Test series. The exception was Muddiah, who remained uncapped by India until the following winter.
First Test, Trent Bridge
England (422) beat India (206 and 157) by an innings and 59 runs. England began nervously against Surendranath and Desai, but Peter May hit 106 and 50s from Ken Barrington
, Martin Horton
(in his first Test) and a quickfire 73 from Godfrey Evans
meant that the hosts ended the first day at 358 for six wickets. India began very slowly, and Tommy Greenhough
, in his first Test also, conceded 16 runs in his first 16 overs, also taking the first wicket, that of Contractor. Two wickets for Fred Trueman
were followed by late rain, and on the third day Borde was unable to resume his innings, having broken a finger the previous evening. India's batting, with Nadkarni also handicapped by injury, subsided against hostile bowling from Trueman, Brian Statham
and Alan Moss
, and the innings of 206 took 375 minutes and 102.5 overs. Only Roy reached 50, and in the follow-on he made a further 49. But apart from Manjrekar (44), Gaekwad (31) and Umrigar (20) no other batsman reached double figures, and Borde was unable to bat. The match finished at 3.30 on the fourth day.
, with 80, found unlikely batting allies in Statham and Moss, so England claimed a lead of 58. Trueman dismissed Roy and Umrigar in the first over and though Manjrekar and Kripal Singh added 89 for the fifth wicket, the last six wickets fell this time for 34 and England required only 108, which an unbeaten 63 from Colin Cowdrey
easily achieved.
Third Test, Leeds
India (161 and 149) lost to England (483 for eight declared) by an innings and 173 runs. England made six changes and one of the newcomers, Harold Rhodes
, took wickets with his fourth and twelfth balls in Test cricket to reduce India to 23 for four, with new wicketkeeper Roy Swetman
taking three catches. Later Indian batsmen did better, but no one reached 30 on a bland wicket. England's new opening pair of Gilbert Parkhouse
and Geoff Pullar
put on 146 for the first wicket, and then Cowdrey and Barrington put on 193 for the fourth wicket, Cowdrey going on to make 160. After early wickets for Moss and Trueman, India rallied with a partnership of 69 between Borde and Umrigar before the off-spin pairing of Brian Close
and John Mortimore
finished things off by five o'clock on the third day.
Fourth Test, Manchester
England (490 and 265 for eight declared) beat India (208 and 376) by 171 runs. Pullar became the first Lancashire
player to hit a century in an Old Trafford Test, and MJK Smith made 100 as well. With 87 from Barrington and 67 from Cowdrey, England made the highest total of the series. Surendranath took five for 115 in 47.1 overs. India's batting again let them down, though Borde made 75 and guided the tail to a total of more than 200. Cowdrey, captaining England as Peter May was ill (he underwent an operation during the match), did not enforce the follow-on, but England batted with little urgency. Parkhouse, Barrington, Ted Dexter
and Ray Illingworth
each passed 40, but none of them reached 50. The declaration set India 547 to win. A second wicket stand of 109 between Contractor, who made 56, and Baig, who was making his debut, was India's best of the series. Baig reached 85 when he was struck on the head by a bouncer from Rhodes and had to retire. He was able to resume the next morning and, in partnership with Umrigar, threatened to save or even win the match. Both reached centuries – Baig in his first Test, Umrigar's the only one he ever made in England – but once Baig had been run out for 112, the innings quickly folded, Umrigar being eighth out for 118.
Fifth Test, The Oval
India (140 and 194) lost to England (361) by an innings and 27 runs. England completed the 5-0 whitewash by lunch on the fourth day. India batted poorly against Trueman and Statham and only a late partnership of 58 for the eighth wicket between Tamhane and Surendranath brought any comfort. The innings occupied five hours and 85.3 overs. England relied on a third wicket partnership of 169 between Raman Subba Row
, who made 94, and MJK Smith (98), and then Illingworth and Swetman made maiden Test 50s in putting on 102 for the seventh wicket. India's second innings was more spirited than their first, with Nadkarni making 76 in four hours, but the result was not in doubt.
(as well as one in the drawn match with Somerset
). The Middlesex
victory came against a side with many regulars absent, and only towards the end of the tour, in the wins against Glamorgan
and Kent
, did the side perform satisfactorily as a team.
Only three counties defeated the tourists and in one of those, the match against Gloucestershire
at Cheltenham
, the pitch deteriorated over the course of the three days (which made Roy's decision to put the county in rather strange). Representative matches against MCC
and a full-strength international side assembled by T. N. Pearce for the Scarborough festival were also lost. And the Indians became the first touring side to lose against the Minor Counties representative side since the West Indian cricket team in England in 1928
, largely as a result of a remarkable unbeaten 202 by Phil Sharpe that enabled the Minor Counties to reach a target of 334 with only four wickets lost.
In a hot and sunny summer with a lot of runs in all forms of cricket, 16 matches were drawn.
had the unusual distinction of heading both batting and bowling averages, though his average of 70 with the bat reflected the fact that he was dismissed only once in three innings. Fred Trueman
, scourge of the Indian cricket team in England in 1952
, took most wickets with 24 at 16.70.
Baig headed India's batting with 165 runs from four innings; Contractor scored most runs, 233. The leg-spinner Gupte took 17 wickets at an average of 34.64, but the leading bowler by average was Surendranath, whose 16 wickets cost 26.62 each.
On the tour as a whole, Manjrekar's unbeaten 204 against Oxford University
enabled him to head not only the tourists' averages, but the averages for all players in the first-class season. He scored 755 runs at an average of 68.63. Umrigar's three double-centuries, including the tour highest, 252 not out against Cambridge University
, brought him the highest aggregate: 1,826 runs at 55.33 runs per innings. Of the other batsmen, Gaekwad, Contractor, Roy and Borde passed 1,000 runs in all first-class matches, and Baig did so if his tour aggregate was added to his university runs earlier in the season. Of the younger batsmen, Apte and Kripal Singh each had one very large innings, but Ghorpade and Jaisimha failed to score a century.
Borde was in terms of averages and strike rate the most successful bowler, his 72 wickets costing 20.62 runs each. Gupte, heralded before the tour as the leading leg-spin bowler in the world, disappointed, and failed to take 100 wickets in the season: his aggregate of 95 was the highest for the tourists, however. Nadkarni was a useful off-spinner but he lacked penetration and was used primarily defensively. The two young opening bowlers, Surendranath and Desai, both of them barely above medium pace, had contrasting seasons: Surendranath impressed with his control and reliability and took 79 wickets at 28 each, but Desai was expensive and his 45 tour wickets cost 41.42 runs apiece. Muddiah barely played, Ghorpade barely bowled, and Jaisimha was several times pressed into service as an emergency opening bowler without ever looking suited to the role.
Joshi and Tamhane shared wicketkeeping duties throughout the tour, playing in three and two Tests respectively. Ghorpade and Borde attracted favourable comment for their fielding.
for 1960, reporting on the tour, said that the record of the team was even worse than that of the New Zealand cricket team in England in 1958
, which was itself regarded as the worst in living memory. It suggested that the problem was deep-seated, in that the side appeared only rarely to play as a team, though talented individuals made occasional contributions.
Under a new captain, Gulabrai Ramchand
, India gave a much more creditable account of themselves in a home series the following winter against Australia
, losing the series only 2-1, though the single victory came in a match at Kanpur on a newly-laid pitch that off-spinner Jasubhai Patel exploited to the extent of taking 14 wickets in the match.
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
toured England in the 1959 season
1959 English cricket season
The 1959 English cricket season saw the inauguration of the Second XI Championship which was to end the involvement of first-class counties in the Minor Counties Championship, though it took several years before all county second XIs switched to the new competition...
. The team played five 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...
against 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 lost them all: the first time that England had won all the matches in a five-match series. Only one of the Tests, the game at Manchester, went into the fifth day.
In all first-class matches, the Indian team won just six times and lost 11, with 16 of the 33 games left drawn.
The background
India's first tour of England since 1952 came with the Indian side in transition. A home series against West IndiesWest Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
in 1958-59 had been lost 3-0, and there had been four captains in the five Tests. Three of those four, Ghulam Ahmed
Ghulam Ahmed
Ghulam Ahmed was an off spin bowler, who captained India in Test cricket. After his retirement, he served for many years as the secretary of BCCI....
, Vinoo Mankad and Hemu Adhikari
Hemu Adhikari
Colonel Hemchandra Ramachandra Adhikari was an Indian cricketer, representing his country as both a player and coach in a career that spanned three decades....
, retired from Test cricket after that series and the 1959 touring party included a lot of unproven players.
England has also had a chastening experience in the run-up to the 1959 Test series. Having retained The Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
in 1956, overcome the West Indies' Ramadhin
Sonny Ramadhin
Sonny Ramadhin was a West Indian cricketer, and a dominant bowler of the 1950s. He was the first West Indian cricketers of Indian origin, and was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1951.- Biography and career :...
and Valentine combination in 1957, and crushed New Zealand
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...
in 1958, the team had been full of confidence that The Ashes would be retained in Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
in 1958-59. In the event, the tour was a disaster, and Australia won 4-0.
The Indian team
The team consisted of 17 players, and that rose to 18 when Abbas Ali BaigAbbas Ali Baig
Abbas Ali Baig is a former Indian cricketer who played in 10 Tests from 1959 to 1966.He was named one of Indian Cricket 's five Cricketers of the Year for 1959/60....
was recruited at the end of the Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
cricket season to take the place of the injured Vijay Manjrekar
Vijay Manjrekar
Vijay Laxman Manjrekar is a former Indian cricketer who played 55 Tests. A small man, he was a fine cutter and hooker of the ball. He was the father of Sanjay Manjrekar....
. The team was captained by Datta Gaekwad
Datta Gaekwad
Dattajirao Krishnarao Gaekwad is a former Indian cricketer. He appeared in 11 Test matches, toured England in 1952 and 1959 and West Indies in 1952-53. He captained the Indian team in the 1959 tour. As a batsman Gaekwad "possessed a sure defence and delightfully crisp shots especially through the...
and managed by the Maharaja of Baroda
Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad
Lieutenant-Colonel Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Shrimant Maharaja Fatehsinghrao Prataprao Gaekwad, Sena Khas Khel Shamsher Bahadur, Maharaja of Baroda was a former Maharaja of Baroda....
, himself a cricketer for Baroda and at 29 younger than several of the team.
The team was:
- Datta GaekwadDatta GaekwadDattajirao Krishnarao Gaekwad is a former Indian cricketer. He appeared in 11 Test matches, toured England in 1952 and 1959 and West Indies in 1952-53. He captained the Indian team in the 1959 tour. As a batsman Gaekwad "possessed a sure defence and delightfully crisp shots especially through the...
, captain - Pankaj RoyPankaj RoyPankaj Roy was an Indian cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman, he is best known for establishing the world record opening partnership of 413 runs, together with Vinoo Mankad, against New Zealand at Chennai. The record stood until 2008. He was honoured with the Padma Shri...
, vice-captain - Arvind ApteArvind ApteArvindrao Laxmanrao Apte is a former Indian cricketer who played in one Test in 1959.-See also:*One Test Wonder...
- Abbas Ali BaigAbbas Ali BaigAbbas Ali Baig is a former Indian cricketer who played in 10 Tests from 1959 to 1966.He was named one of Indian Cricket 's five Cricketers of the Year for 1959/60....
- Chandu BordeChandu BordeChandrakant Gulabrao "Chandu" Borde born 21 July 1934 in Poona In Marathi Christian Family, is a ex-cricketer who was a member of the Indian team between 1958 and 1970. Following his retirement, Borde became a cricket administrator, serving as the Chairman of national selectors...
- Nari ContractorNari ContractorNariman Jamshedji "Nari" Contractor is a former cricket player. He was left-handed opening batsman whose international career was ended abruptly by a serious injury....
- Ramakant DesaiRamakant DesaiRamakant Bhikaji Desai represented India in Test cricket as fast bowler.Ramakant Desai was unusually fast for a bowler who stood less than 5 feet 6 inches. His size earned him the nickname 'Tiny'. As the only bowler of pace in the Indian team, he was perennially overworked...
- Jayasinghrao GhorpadeJayasinghrao GhorpadeJaysinghrao Mansinghrao Ghorpade was an Indian cricketer who played in eight Tests from 1953 to 1959....
- Subhash GupteSubhash GupteSubhashchandra Pandharinath "Fergie" Gupte was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers. Sir Garry Sobers pronounced him the best leg spinner that it had been his pleasure to see. Gupte flighted and spun the ball sharply, and possessed two different googlies...
- M. L. JaisimhaM. L. JaisimhaMotganhalli Laxminarsu Jaisimha was an Indian Test cricketer.M.L. Jaisimha a right-handed batsman who was noted for his style on and off the field. He bowled medium pace, often opening the bowling for India, and off breaks and was a brilliant fielder. But it was the way he went about things that...
- Nana JoshiNana JoshiPadmanabh Govind "Nana" Joshi was a cricket player who kept wicket for India in Test cricket.Joshi was born in Baroda, Gujarat, India in 1926. He first gained attention as a cricket player when he scored 100 notout for Central Province Governor's XI against the touring Commonwealth XI in addition...
, wicketkeeper - A. G. Kripal SinghA. G. Kripal SinghAmritsar Govindsingh Kripal Singh was an Indian Test cricketer.Kripal Singh came from a famous cricketing family. His father A.G. Ram Singh was unlucky not to play for India, brother Milkha Singh was a Test cricketer, another brother, two sons and nephew all played first class cricket...
- Vijay ManjrekarVijay ManjrekarVijay Laxman Manjrekar is a former Indian cricketer who played 55 Tests. A small man, he was a fine cutter and hooker of the ball. He was the father of Sanjay Manjrekar....
- Venatappa MuddiahVenatappa MuddiahVenatappa Musandra Muddiah was an Indian cricketer who played in 2 Tests from 1959 to 1960.Born in Bangalore, Karnataka, Muddiah came up through the Mysore University and Mysore State 'B' team. He studied in the Malleswaram Middle and High School and Central College, Bangalore...
- Bapu NadkarniBapu NadkarniRameshchandra Gangaram 'Bapu' Nadkarni was an Indian cricketer. He is mainly known for being an economical bowler.-Career:...
- SurendranathSurendranathRaman Surendranath is a former Indian cricketer who played in 11 Tests from 1958 to 1961. He was primarily a medium pace swing bowler, who enjoyed a particularly successful tour of England in 1959....
- Naren TamhaneNaren TamhaneNarendra Shankar Tamhane was an Indian cricketer who played in twenty one Tests from 1955 to 1960.He was a wicketkeeper batsman....
, wicketkeeper - Polly UmrigarPolly UmrigarPahlan Ratanji "Polly" Umrigar was an Indian cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Bombay, and Test cricket in the Indian cricket team, mainly as a middle-order batsman but also bowling occasional medium pace and off spin. He captained the Indian team in eight Test matches from 1955 to...
Gaekwad, Roy, Manjrekar and Umrigar had been members of the 1952 Indian team in England
Indian cricket team in England in 1952
The Indian cricket team toured England in the 1952 season. The team played four Test matches, losing three of them and drawing the other one. In all first-class matches, they played 29, winning four and losing five, with the rest drawn.-The Indian team:...
. Though the team as a whole was not experienced, all except Apte, Baig, Jaisimha and Muddiah had played Test cricket before the tour, and 17 of the 18 players appeared in the 1959 Test series. The exception was Muddiah, who remained uncapped by India until the following winter.
First Test, Trent BridgeTrent BridgeTrent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
, 4–8 June 1959
England (422) beat India (206 and 157) by an innings and 59 runs. England began nervously against Surendranath and Desai, but Peter May hit 106 and 50s from Ken BarringtonKen Barrington
Kenneth Frank Barrington , better known as Ken Barrington, played for the English cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional leg-spin bowler, well known for his jovial good humour and long, defensive innings "batting with bulldog...
, Martin Horton
Martin Horton
Martin John Horton was an English cricketer, who played in two Tests in 1959. He was born in Worcester, England, and played the bulk of his first-class cricket for his native county....
(in his first Test) and a quickfire 73 from Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
meant that the hosts ended the first day at 358 for six wickets. India began very slowly, and Tommy Greenhough
Tommy Greenhough
Thomas "Tommy" Greenhough was an English cricketer, who represented Lancashire during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as playing four Tests for England....
, in his first Test also, conceded 16 runs in his first 16 overs, also taking the first wicket, that of Contractor. Two wickets for Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
were followed by late rain, and on the third day Borde was unable to resume his innings, having broken a finger the previous evening. India's batting, with Nadkarni also handicapped by injury, subsided against hostile bowling from Trueman, Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
and Alan Moss
Alan Moss
Alan Edward Moss is a former English cricketer, who played in nine Tests for England from 1954 to 1960....
, and the innings of 206 took 375 minutes and 102.5 overs. Only Roy reached 50, and in the follow-on he made a further 49. But apart from Manjrekar (44), Gaekwad (31) and Umrigar (20) no other batsman reached double figures, and Borde was unable to bat. The match finished at 3.30 on the fourth day.
Second Test, Lord's, 18–20 June 1959
India (168 and 165) lost to England (226 and 108 for two) by eight wickets. Gaekwad, Borde and Nadkarni were injured, so Roy captained India. Contractor, hit by Statham, batted with a cracked rib but still made almost half of India's first innings runs, with a determined 81. Greenhough took five for 35 as the last six wickets fell for just 24 runs. The Indian bowlers then hit back and reduced England to 80 for six, but Ken BarringtonKen Barrington
Kenneth Frank Barrington , better known as Ken Barrington, played for the English cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional leg-spin bowler, well known for his jovial good humour and long, defensive innings "batting with bulldog...
, with 80, found unlikely batting allies in Statham and Moss, so England claimed a lead of 58. Trueman dismissed Roy and Umrigar in the first over and though Manjrekar and Kripal Singh added 89 for the fifth wicket, the last six wickets fell this time for 34 and England required only 108, which an unbeaten 63 from Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
easily achieved.
Third Test, LeedsHeadingley StadiumHeadingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, rugby league team Leeds Rhinos and rugby union team Leeds Carnegie ....
, 2–4 July 1959
India (161 and 149) lost to England (483 for eight declared) by an innings and 173 runs. England made six changes and one of the newcomers, Harold RhodesHarold Rhodes (cricketer)
Harold James Rhodes, sometimes called Dusty Rhodes is an English former cricketer, who played for England in 1959, for Derbyshire between 1953 and 1975, and for the MCC between 1959 and 1963...
, took wickets with his fourth and twelfth balls in Test cricket to reduce India to 23 for four, with new wicketkeeper Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman is an English former cricketer, who played in eleven Tests as a wicket-keeper from 1959 to 1960.-Life and career:...
taking three catches. Later Indian batsmen did better, but no one reached 30 on a bland wicket. England's new opening pair of Gilbert Parkhouse
Gilbert Parkhouse
William Gilbert Anthony Parkhouse was a Welsh cricketer who played in seven Tests for England in 1950, 1950-51 and 1959....
and Geoff Pullar
Geoff Pullar
Geoffrey Pullar was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire, Gloucestershire and in twenty eight Tests for England....
put on 146 for the first wicket, and then Cowdrey and Barrington put on 193 for the fourth wicket, Cowdrey going on to make 160. After early wickets for Moss and Trueman, India rallied with a partnership of 69 between Borde and Umrigar before the off-spin pairing of Brian Close
Brian Close
Dennis Brian Close , usually known as Brian Close, is a former cricketer who is the youngest man ever to play Test cricket for England. He was picked for the Test team to play against New Zealand, in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England,...
and John Mortimore
John Mortimore (cricketer)
John Brian Mortimore is a former English cricketer, who played in nine Tests for England from 1959 to 1964, and captained Gloucestershire between 1965 and 1967....
finished things off by five o'clock on the third day.
Fourth Test, 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...
, 23–28 July 1959
England (490 and 265 for eight declared) beat India (208 and 376) by 171 runs. Pullar became the first LancashireLancashire 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...
player to hit a century in an Old Trafford Test, and MJK Smith made 100 as well. With 87 from Barrington and 67 from Cowdrey, England made the highest total of the series. Surendranath took five for 115 in 47.1 overs. India's batting again let them down, though Borde made 75 and guided the tail to a total of more than 200. Cowdrey, captaining England as Peter May was ill (he underwent an operation during the match), did not enforce the follow-on, but England batted with little urgency. Parkhouse, Barrington, Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
and Ray Illingworth
Ray Illingworth
Raymond Illingworth, CBE is a former English cricketer, cricket commentator and cricket administrator. He was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in First class cricket, and the last one to do so...
each passed 40, but none of them reached 50. The declaration set India 547 to win. A second wicket stand of 109 between Contractor, who made 56, and Baig, who was making his debut, was India's best of the series. Baig reached 85 when he was struck on the head by a bouncer from Rhodes and had to retire. He was able to resume the next morning and, in partnership with Umrigar, threatened to save or even win the match. Both reached centuries – Baig in his first Test, Umrigar's the only one he ever made in England – but once Baig had been run out for 112, the innings quickly folded, Umrigar being eighth out for 118.
Fifth Test, 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...
, 20–24 August 1959
India (140 and 194) lost to England (361) by an innings and 27 runs. England completed the 5-0 whitewash by lunch on the fourth day. India batted poorly against Trueman and Statham and only a late partnership of 58 for the eighth wicket between Tamhane and Surendranath brought any comfort. The innings occupied five hours and 85.3 overs. England relied on a third wicket partnership of 169 between Raman Subba RowRaman Subba Row
Raman Subba Row is an English former cricketer who played for England, Cambridge University, Surrey and Northamptonshire.-Life and career:...
, who made 94, and MJK Smith (98), and then Illingworth and Swetman made maiden Test 50s in putting on 102 for the seventh wicket. India's second innings was more spirited than their first, with Nadkarni making 76 in four hours, but the result was not in doubt.
Other first-class matches
If fragile batting was one of the weaknesses of the touring side, then occasional individual batting successes were responsible for several of the team's six victories in other first-class matches. Double-centuries for Umrigar and Manjrekar were behind the wins against the two first-class university sides, and Umrigar made another double-century in the win against NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire 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...
(as well as one in the drawn match with 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...
). The 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...
victory came against a side with many regulars absent, and only towards the end of the tour, in the wins against 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 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...
, did the side perform satisfactorily as a team.
Only three counties defeated the tourists and in one of those, the match against 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....
at Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
, the pitch deteriorated over the course of the three days (which made Roy's decision to put the county in rather strange). Representative matches 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...
and a full-strength international side assembled by T. N. Pearce for the Scarborough festival were also lost. And the Indians became the first touring side to lose against the Minor Counties representative side since the West Indian cricket team in England in 1928
West Indian cricket team in England in 1928
The West Indian cricket team that toured England in the 1928 season was the first to play Test cricket. The team was not very successful, losing all three Tests by an innings and winning only five of the 30 first-class matches played....
, largely as a result of a remarkable unbeaten 202 by Phil Sharpe that enabled the Minor Counties to reach a target of 334 with only four wickets lost.
In a hot and sunny summer with a lot of runs in all forms of cricket, 16 matches were drawn.
Leading players
The Indian team's Test match averages and aggregates in a depressing series were a long way below those of the England players. Eight England team members who batted three or more times in the series averaged more than 50 runs per innings; three bowlers took 14 or more wickets and averaged less than 20 runs per wicket. Brian StathamBrian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
had the unusual distinction of heading both batting and bowling averages, though his average of 70 with the bat reflected the fact that he was dismissed only once in three innings. Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
, scourge of the Indian cricket team in England in 1952
Indian cricket team in England in 1952
The Indian cricket team toured England in the 1952 season. The team played four Test matches, losing three of them and drawing the other one. In all first-class matches, they played 29, winning four and losing five, with the rest drawn.-The Indian team:...
, took most wickets with 24 at 16.70.
Baig headed India's batting with 165 runs from four innings; Contractor scored most runs, 233. The leg-spinner Gupte took 17 wickets at an average of 34.64, but the leading bowler by average was Surendranath, whose 16 wickets cost 26.62 each.
On the tour as a whole, Manjrekar's unbeaten 204 against Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
enabled him to head not only the tourists' averages, but the averages for all players in the first-class season. He scored 755 runs at an average of 68.63. Umrigar's three double-centuries, including the tour highest, 252 not out against 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...
, brought him the highest aggregate: 1,826 runs at 55.33 runs per innings. Of the other batsmen, Gaekwad, Contractor, Roy and Borde passed 1,000 runs in all first-class matches, and Baig did so if his tour aggregate was added to his university runs earlier in the season. Of the younger batsmen, Apte and Kripal Singh each had one very large innings, but Ghorpade and Jaisimha failed to score a century.
Borde was in terms of averages and strike rate the most successful bowler, his 72 wickets costing 20.62 runs each. Gupte, heralded before the tour as the leading leg-spin bowler in the world, disappointed, and failed to take 100 wickets in the season: his aggregate of 95 was the highest for the tourists, however. Nadkarni was a useful off-spinner but he lacked penetration and was used primarily defensively. The two young opening bowlers, Surendranath and Desai, both of them barely above medium pace, had contrasting seasons: Surendranath impressed with his control and reliability and took 79 wickets at 28 each, but Desai was expensive and his 45 tour wickets cost 41.42 runs apiece. Muddiah barely played, Ghorpade barely bowled, and Jaisimha was several times pressed into service as an emergency opening bowler without ever looking suited to the role.
Joshi and Tamhane shared wicketkeeping duties throughout the tour, playing in three and two Tests respectively. Ghorpade and Borde attracted favourable comment for their fielding.
Verdict and aftermath
Wisden Cricketers' AlmanackWisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
for 1960, reporting on the tour, said that the record of the team was even worse than that of the New Zealand cricket team in England in 1958
New Zealand cricket team in England in 1958
The New Zealand cricket team toured England in the 1958 season. In a notably wet summer when the touring side lost the equivalent of 29 full days of cricket, the side lost four of the five Test matches...
, which was itself regarded as the worst in living memory. It suggested that the problem was deep-seated, in that the side appeared only rarely to play as a team, though talented individuals made occasional contributions.
Under a new captain, Gulabrai Ramchand
Gulabrai Ramchand
Gulabrai Sipahimalani 'Ram' Ramchand was an Indian cricketer who captained India to a famous win against Australia in his only series as captain....
, India gave a much more creditable account of themselves in a home series the following winter against Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
, losing the series only 2-1, though the single victory came in a match at Kanpur on a newly-laid pitch that off-spinner Jasubhai Patel exploited to the extent of taking 14 wickets in the match.
External sources
Further reading
- Ramachandra GuhaRamachandra GuhaRamachandra Guha is an Indian writer whose research interests have included environmental, social, political and cricket history. He is also a columnist for the newspapers The Telegraph , and The Hindustan Times.-Early life and education:Born in Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, India in 1958, Guha studied...
, A Corner of a Foreign Field - An Indian History of a British Sport, Picador, 2001