Tour of England 1931            Captain: Tom Lowry
	First New Zealand Test tour (March - November 1931)       First Test-playing  tour of England by New Zealand  (second tour of England but no previous Test tour)	This was the first tour by a New Zealand team on which they played Test matches.  There was some doubt as to whether the tour should take place at all amid the distress caused by the recent earthquake in Hawkes Bay but it went ahead. The New Zealanders had toured England in 1927 and eight members of that team returned on this occasion. The playing record in 1927 had been good (with 13 victories) but financial returns were disappointing. To help keep costs down on the 1931 tour, skipper Tom Lowry also acted as manager with another player, Cyril Allcott, as treasurer. For the same reason of economy, the selectors' request to take a 15th player was turned down and Lowry had to serve as reserve wicket-keeper.  The 1931 side was a success for losing only three matches and returning six first-class wins but there were no less than 23 drawn matches, largely because of persistent rain.  The Test match at Lord’s was the high point of the tour. After being 230 runs behind on first innings, New Zealand’s extraordinary comeback to save the match by scoring 469-9 led to increased interest from the public. The county matches scheduled for The Oval and Old Trafford were then replaced with two further Test matches against England. After the tour leg-spinner Bill Merritt signed to play in 1932 for Lancashire League club Rishton.  The New Zealand Cricket Council said he was in breach of his contract and he would not be invited again to play for New Zealand, which brought his Test career to a close at the age of 22. Other professional cricketers, too, came into conflict with the Board’s rules, preventing them from representing their country as well as earning a living, as they could in any other occupation. Merritt did not return to live in New Zealand until 1960.		All New Zealand tours     No Previous tours     Next tour England 1937       Next tour of England 1937
	Members of the Test tour party  (14)     Opening batsmen: Stewie Dempster,  Jack Mills. Middle-order batsmen :Jack Kerr, Lindsay Weir, Tom Lowry, Ron Talbot,  Roger Blunt, 'Curly' Page. Wicket-keeper:Ken James All-rounder Giff Vivian Spin Bowlers:  Cyril Allcott, Bill Merritt Fast bowlers:Ian Cromb, Mal Matheson.	C F W Allcott A 34 SLA   R C Blunt O 30 RHB   LB   I B Cromb C 26 RFM   C S Dempster W 27 RHB  opener   K C James W 27 WK   J L Kerr C 29 RHB   T C Lowry W 33 RHB   second WK     captain/manager   A M Matheson A 25 RM   W E Merritt C 22 LBG   J E Mills W 25 LHB  opener   M L Page C 29 RHB         vice-captain   R O Talbot C 27 RHB   RM   H G Vivian A 18 LHB   SLA   G L Weir A 23 RHB   RM		Provincial representation   (Plunket Shield teams)   A - Auckland (4) C - Canterbury (5) O - Otago (1) W - Wellington (4)     Average age of  team at time of first Test match     (27 June 1931) :           26 yrs  10 months.
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Lowry 4,  Page 4,  Blunt 4,  Dempster 4,  James 4,  Merritt 4,  Mills 3,  Weir 3,  Allcott 2,  Matheson 1,  Cromb 0,  Kerr 0,  Talbot 0,  Vivian 0.
	Tour Officials	Tom Lowry Manager Cyril Allcott Treasurer Bill Ferguson Scorer / baggage   The Board appointed Lowry as captain-manager on 10 March. The appointment of Sir Arthur T Donnelly, Chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Council, as manager had been anticipated. He took over when he arrived in England midway through the summer
	Selectors	W S (Stan) Brice [Wellington],  N C (Cyril) Snedden [Auckland],  H B (Harry) Whitta [Canterbury] and Frank Williams [Otago] chose the team after watching the last Plunket Shield match of the season at Eden Park.
	Selection	Unavailable :   C C R Dacre;   F T Badcock. Big-hitting batsman Ces Dacre was playing for English county Gloucestershire. ‘Ted’ Badcock, who was born in India and brought up in England, had come to New Zealand in 1923 to coach and was the best bowler in the country. He was not considered for the 1927 tour either (though initially chosen and then dropped) despite New Zealand selecting him to play in the 1929-30 series. The NZ Cricket Council appointed Tom Lowry as manager-captain on 10 March. Tour Party Announced  : 26 January 1931. Not selected:  Denis Blundell (W), the Cambridge blue, was expected to gain a place in the tour party but the Board rejected the selectors' recommendation to take a 15th player, to keep costs as low as possible.		Time between selection and departure from New Zealand   61 days (26 January to 28 March)
	Travel Wellington  T  Southampton               ‘Rangitata’	The team left Wellington on the R M S 'Rangitata' on 28 March and arrived at Southampton Docks on the last day of April 1931, having made only one stop.  The team was driven to its Marylebone hotel to rest and given a reception next day.		Time spent in England    146 days (30 April - 24 September)
	On-tour selection panel	Tom Lowry (captain-manager),  Curly Page (vice-captain),  Cyril Allcott.
	Reinforcements	None although Matheson had an injured wrist and ankle and was unfit for most of the tour. Stewie Dempster missed a week for a leg muscle injury and then a further three weeks’ play when he was told to rest it. Sir Arthur Donnelly played in one match, against Sir Julien Cahn’s XI.  In addition A Kempton, Captain F L Hancock, A R Gover, A Bennett and J McMillan played for New Zealand in the final match against Catford CC;  and Mills played in a benefit match at Ashtead on 19 September.
	Fixtures/Results       Mr H D Swan, the New Zealand Cricket Council's representative in England, sailed from England, reaching Wellington on 24 January, to consult his NZCC colleagues about the tour arrangements. Swan arrived back in London to finalise matters five weeks before the team got to Southampton.                           Surrey and Lancashire consented to drop their return fixtures at The Oval and Old Trafford so that two more Test matches could be played	a † Worcester Park Maori Cricket Club (1-day) Drawn b Leyton Essex Won inns 48 r c Leicester Leicestershire Drawn d Southampton Hampshire Drawn e Lord's M C C Won inns 122 r f Worcester Worcestershire Drawn g Cardiff Glamorgan Drawn h Oxford Oxford University Drawn i Lord's Middlesex Lost 79 r j Cambridge Cambridge University Drawn k Bath Somerset Drawn l Gloucester Gloucestershire Drawn m Derby Derbyshire Drawn n Gainsborough Minor Counties Drawn o Peterborough Northamptonshire Won 6 w p  (in Netherlands) *   unknown q LORD'S ENGLAND  First Test DRAWN r ϯ Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire (2-day) Drawn s Trent Bridge Nottinghamshire Drawn t Harrogate Yorkshire Drawn u Aigburth, Liverpool Lancashire Drawn v Glasgow Scotland Won 235 runs w ϯ Sunderland Durham(2-day) Drawn x Portsmouth Combined Services Drawn y Bournemouth Hampshire Drawn z KENNINGTON OVAL ENGLAND  Second Test LOST inns 26 r a’ Swansea Glamorgan Won 9 w b’ Edgbaston Warwickshire Drawn c’ Clifton College Gloucestershire Won inns 25 r d’ OLD TRAFFORD ENGLAND  Third Test DRAWN e’ ϯ Lakenham, Norwich Norfolk(2-day) Won inns 62 r f’ Southend Essex Drawn g’ Canterbury Kent Lost 9 w h’ Hove Sussex Drawn I’ Eastbourne Gentlemen of England Drawn j’ Folkestone An England XI Drawn k’ Scarborough H D G Leveson-Gower's XI Drawn l’ ϯ West Bridgford Sir Julien Cahn's XII  (2-day) Drawn m’ † Catford, London Catford C C  (1-day) Tied   *  Dempster and Allcott played two matches for M F North’s XI in Amsterdam and Harlem between 21-25 June		† not first-class   Time spent in England before First Test:   58 days (30 April - 27 June)
	Test appearances on tour	3  -   Allcott,  Blunt,  Cromb,  James,  Lowry,  Mills,  Page,  Weir 2  -   Dempster,  Kerr,  Merritt,  Vivian 1  -   Matheson 0  -   Talbot.
	Match appearances     T  Test match x other match  ∙  played for opposition   W won  L lost  D drawn  T tied N no result   A abandoned   u unknown result     *  Dempster and Allcott played two matches for M F North’s XI in Amsterdam and Harlem between 21-25 June;   Mills played in a benefit match at Ashtead on 19 September   v Julien Cahn’s:  12-a-side   A Kempton, Captain F L Hancock, A R Gover, A Bennett and J McMillan played for New Zealand in the final match against Catford	a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a ‘ b ‘ c ‘ d ‘ e ‘ f ‘ g ‘ h ‘ i j k l’ m’ C F W Allcott x x       x x x   x x     x     T x x x   x x x x T x   x T x   x   x x   x x R C Blunt x x x x x   x x x x x x x x     T x x x x x x x x T x x x T     x x x x x x x I B Cromb     x   x   x x x x   x x   x   T x x   x   x x x T x   x T x x   x x x   x   C S Dempster x x x x x x x     x x x x x     T x x x x x             x T x x x x   x x x   K C James x x x x x x x x x   x x x x x   T   x x x x x x x T   x x T x   x x     x x   J L Kerr   x x x x x x   x x x   x x x   T x       x x x   T x x     x x   x x   x x x T C Lowry x x x x   x   x x x x x x x x   T   x x x x   x x T x x x T   x x x x x x x   A M Matheson       x x x       x     x   x     x x x   x x x     x x x T x x x x     x x x W E Merritt x x x x x x x x x     x x x x   T x   x x x x   x T x x     x x x x x x x     J E Mills x x x x   x   x x x x x x x x   T       x x x x x T x x x T x x x x x x x     M L Page x x x x x x x x x x x x   x x   T x x x x   x x x T   x x T x x x   x x x x   R O Talbot x x x   x x x x x x x x   x x     x x x x x x   x   x x     x x   x x x x   x H G Vivian x     x   x x x x   x x x   x     x x x x x x x x T x x x T   x x x x x   x   G L Weir x x x x x   x x x x x x x x x   T x x x x     x x T x x x T x x x   x x x x x A Donnelly                                                                           x    R E S U L T S D W D D W D D D L D D D D D W U D D D D D W D D D L W D W D W D L D D D D D T   a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z a ‘ b ‘ c ‘ d ‘ e ‘ f ‘ g ‘ h ‘ I’ j’ k’ l’ m’
	Highlights	•  Ian Cromb took three quick wickets to reduce England to 31 for three in the opening Test at Lord’s. •  Faced with a first innings deficit of 230, New Zealand staged a great comeback, scoring 469-9 in the second innings of the first Test. The tour programme was then rearranged to accommodate two more Test matches. •  Stewie Dempster (120)  and ‘Curly’ Page (104) scored centuries in the above innings, and Blunt 96. •  Tom Lowry scored 62 on a spiteful Oval pitch; and Giff Vivian a lively 51 as New Zealand lost the second Test. •  Giff Vivian’s 132  against Yorkshire was regarded as the best innings of the tour outside the Test matches. •  Stewie Dempster was the leading run-scorer with 1778 runs on tour, while Bill Merritt took most wickets (99).
	⋆ Tour Summary	F W L D T U Aban Test Matches  3 0 1 2 0 - - Other first-class matches 29 6 2 21 0 - - ϯ Minor matches  7 1 0  4 1 1 - All Matches 39 7 3 27 1 1 -	F  Fixtures   W  Won   L  Lost   T  Tied   D Drawn   Canc  Cancelled Aban  abandoned
	Return to New Zealand   London   T    Wellington             Ruahine'	Leaving London’s Grand Central Hotel at 9 am on 24 September and taking a train from St Pancras Station, the team sailed from Royal Albert Docks in the ss 'Ruahine' .  Cromb, Dempster and James joined the ship at Southampton. Jack Mills had married in London a few days before returning to New Zealand. The 'Ruahine' crossed the Atlantic and sailed through the Caribbean reaching Colon (Panama) on Saturday 10 October. The ship eventually berthed at Queen's Wharf, Auckland, at 5am on 1 November 1931, before sailing on to Wellington.  Scorer Bill Ferguson then returned to Australia.	Time away from New Zealand          218 days   (28 March to 1 November)
	Finances	To finance the tour New Zealand Cricket Limited had offered £12 000 of shares to the public. A lottery helped raise funds for the boat passages The tour took £8000 at the gates but made an overall loss of £1400.
	Written accounts of the tour	"The New Zealanders in England 1931"  by  Oscar S Hintz. “The New Zealand Cricket Guide 1931”  by  F.S. Ashley-Cooper  (Richards, 1931) “Tom Lowry - Leader in a Thousand”   by  Bill Francis (Trio Books, 2010).
	Postscript	It was evident that fourteen players were not sufficient for a tour of such length.  Yet in 1937 the Council again decided to send only fourteen players until the tour committee insisted upon them adding an extra bowler. Bill Merritt (Manchester league club Rishton), Ian Cromb (East Lancashire), Stewie Dempster (Leicestershire), Ken James (Northamptonshire) and Roger Blunt (MCC, Julien Cahn’s XI)  were all lost to New Zealand cricket for taking up professional appointments in England. Instead of engaging them to coach at home in the English winter, the New Zealand administrators cast them adrift rather than select them for their country again.
	Other Test tours in 1931	None

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