| Tour of Pakistan & India
1955-56 Captain : Harry Cave | |
| | | | |
| Fifth New Zealand
Test tour (October 1955 -
January 1956) First Test-playing tours of Pakistan and India
by New Zealand
(no previous tour)
| The tour started with two heavy
defeats in West Pakistan before flying to the east of the country, now Bangladesh.
Three days of the Dacca Test were washed out, then fifteen wickets tumbled on
the fourth day. The tourists eventually saved this match. In India, the New
Zealanders found their modest bowling attack to be innocuous; on comfortable
pitches there were plenty of runs for Reid and Sutcliffe, but many more for
the Indian batsmen who averaged no less than 66 runs for every wicket lost. The manager blamed the New Zealand
team’s poor performance on a number of factors - the heat, the extensive
travelling, and the tightly scheduled programme with insufficient rest. He
also felt the strength of the opposing teams in side matches did not allow
fringe players a chance to rebuild their form and practise. He was also critical of the
umpires in his end-of-tour report: “Bad decisions (and some were so bad as to
be almost ludicrous) were so frequent and often of such great advantage to
the local side that it was hard to believe they were all due to lack of
concentration and judgement or even incompetence.” The tour was in the end a
costly failure because not only did New Zealand lose two of the three Tests
played in Pakistan and then two more in India but also left the players
jaded, unwell and exhausted for their next home series against West Indies.
But, as far as promoting New
Zealand in the Indian sub-continent went
(cricket strengthening the bonds of Commonwealth for political expedience,
thought John Reid), the tour was unquestionably successful. The New
Zealanders were popular everywhere and often played entertaining cricket in
the most trying of circumstances. | All New Zealand
tours Previous tour South
Africa 1953-54 Next tour England 1958 Next tour of India
and Pakistan 1964-65 | |
| Members of the Test
tour party (15) Opening batsmen Gordon Leggatt, Noel
McGregor. Middle-order batsmen John Reid, John Guy, Neil
Harford, Zin Harris, Bert Sutcliffe, Matt Poore. Wicket-keepers Trevor McMahon, Eric Petrie. Spin bowlers Jack Alabaster, Alex Moir. Fast bowlers Harry
Cave, Jack Hayes, Tony
MacGibbon. | J C Alabaster | - | 25 | LBG | | H B Cave | CD | 33 | RFM | | J W Guy | CD | 21 | RHB | | N S
Harford | CD | 25 | RHB | | P G Z Harris | C | 28 | RHB | | J A Hayes | C | 28 | RFM | | J G Leggatt | C | 29 | RHB opener | | A R MacGibbon | C | 31 | RFM | | S N
McGregor | O | 23 | LHB opener | | T G McMahon | W | 25 | WK | | A M Moir | O | 36 | LBG | | E C Petrie | ND | 28 | WK | | M B Poore | C | 25 | RHB | | J R Reid | W | 27 | RHB RM | | B Sutcliffe | O | 31 | LHB opener | |
|
Provincial representation (Plunket Shield teams) A - Auckland (0) C - Canterbury (5) CD - Central Districts (3) ND - Northern Districts (1) O - Otago (3) W - Wellington (2) Jack Alabaster had
represented Southland. Average age of team at time of first Test match (13 October 1955) : 28
years 2 months. | |
| Test Appearances
made before the tour | Sutcliffe 18,
Reid 15, MacGibbon 10, Moir 7,
Poore 7, Cave 6, Hayes 5,
Leggatt 3, McGregor 2, Alabaster 0, Guy 0,
Harford 0, Harris 0, McMahon 0,
Petrie 0. | | |
| Tour Officials | | | |
| Selectors | Walter Hadlee, Lankford
Smith, Eric Tindill, Giff Vivian, Harry
Cave (captain). | | |
| Selection | The team
had to be picked within a month of the tour arrangements being completed. Unavailable
: None known. Tour Party Announced : 1 August 1955. Jack Kerr announced the
team in Christchurch. The manager's name was given out later. Not selected:
| Time
between selection and departure from New Zealand 63 days (1
August - 3 October) | |
| Travel ChristchurchQ Karachi | The team flew from Harewood
Airport, Christchurch,
on 3 October to Sydney where Noel Harford, who
had been on a basketball tour of Australia,
joined the squad at Mascot
Airport. The team arrived in Karachi on 4 October. After the Pakistan
section of the tour, the team left Dacca for Calcutta on 12 November (and flew on from there to Bombay). | Time
spent in Pakistan 39 days
(4
October - 12 November) Time
spent in India 65 days (12
November - 16 January) | |
| On-tour selection
panel | Harry Cave (captain), John Reid (vice-captain), Bert
Sutcliffe (senior player). | | |
| Reinforcements | None. Many of the team were ill
in Karachi
and elsewhere, unused to the exhausting heat, the water and the oils the food
was cooked in. Tony MacGibbon was almost
crippled by enteritis, but still took 22 Test wickets. Zin Harris suffered from a
virus which affected his leg. Gordon Leggatt chipped a bone in his middle
finger. | | |
| Fixtures/Results | a | Karachi | Chief Commissioner's XI | Drawn | b | KARACHI | PAKISTAN First Test | LOST inns 1 r | c | Bahawalpur | Prime Minister's XI | Lost 7 w | d | LAHORE | PAKISTAN Second Test | LOST 4 w | e | Peshawar | Governor-General's XI | Won 7 w | f | DACCA | PAKISTAN Third Test | DRAWN | g | Poona | West Zone | Lost 6 w | h | HYDERABAD | INDIA First Test | DRAWN | i | Bangalore | South Zone | Won inns 3 r | j | BOMBAY | INDIA Second Test | LOST inns 27 r | k | Ahmedabad | All-Indian XI | Drawn | l | DELHI | INDIA Third Test | DRAWN | m | Benares | Board President's XI | Drawn | n | CALCUTTA | INDIA Fourth Test | DRAWN | o | MADRAS | INDIA Fifth Test | LOST inns 109 r | p | Nagpur | Indian Universities | Won 119 r |
| † not first-class Time spent in Pakistan
before First Test: 9 days (4 October - 13 October) | |
| Test appearances on
tour | 8 - Cave, MacGibbon, Reid, Sutcliffe 7 - McGregor, Poore 6 - Guy, Hayes 5 - Alabaster, Leggatt,
Moir 4 - Harford,
McMahon, Petrie. 3 - Harris. | | |
| Match
appearances T Test match x other match ∙ played for opposition W won L lost D drawn N no
result A abandoned u unknown
result | | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | J C Alabaster | x | T | | | x | | x | T | x | T | | T | x | T | | x | H B Cave | x | T | x | T | | T | x | T | x | T | x | T | x | T | T | | J W Guy | x | | x | | x | T | x | T | | T | x | T | x | T | T | | N S
Harford | x | | x | T | | T | x | T | x | | x | | x | T | | x | P G Z Harris | x | T | x | T | x | | | | x | T | x | | x | | | x | J A Hayes | x | | x | T | x | | x | T | | T | x | T | | T | T | | J G Leggatt | | T | x | | x | T | x | | | | x | T | x | T | T | x | A R MacGibbon | x | T | | T | x | T | x | T | x | T | | T | x | T | T | x | S N
McGregor | | T | | T | x | T | | T | x | | x | T | x | T | T | x | T G McMahon | | T | x | | | | x | | x | | x | T | | T | T | | A M Moir | | T | x | T | x | T | x | | | T | x | | x | | T | x | E C Petrie | x | | | T | x | T | | T | x | T | | | x | | | x | M B Poore | x | T | x | T | | T | x | T | x | T | x | T | | | T | x | J R Reid | x | T | x | T | x | T | | T | x | T | | T | x | T | T | x | B Sutcliffe | x | T | x | T | x | T | x | T | x | T | x | T | | T | T | x | R E S U L T S | D | L | L | L | W | D | L | D | W | L | D | D | D | D | L | W |
| New Zealand’s previous four Test tour results: in South Africa 1953-54 (5 Tests) - lost 0-4 in England
1949 (4 Tests) - drew 0-0 in England
1937 (3 Tests) - lost 0-1 in England
1931 (3 Tests) - lost 0-1 | |
| Highlights | • Noel McGregor scored his maiden
first-class century (111) at Lahore
but NZ lost the match heavily. • John Guy (102) and Bert Sutcliffe (137*)
scored centuries at Hyderabad
on a perfect batting strip. • Bert Sutcliffe played a huge innings in
the third Test. His 230* was New
Zealand’s highest in a Test. • With John Reid (119*) Sutcliffe added 222
runs for the third wicket, which remains a New Zealand record. • At Calcutta New Zealand had a first-innings
lead of more than 200 thanks to Reid’s century (120) • Reid’s run of scores against India were:
54, 45*, 39, 4, 119*, 120, 5, 44, 63: 493
runs, average 70. | | |
| Tour Summary | | F | W | L | D | Aban | Test Matches | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | - | Other first-class matches | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | - | †Minor matches | 0 | - | - | - | - | All Matches | 16 | 3 | 6 | 7 | - |
| F Fixtures W Won
L Lost
T Tied
D Drawn
Canc Cancelled Aban abandoned | |
| Return to New Zealand Calcutta Q Christchurch | After the match at Nagpur, the
team travelled 650 miles to Calcutta and took
a Qantas flight out of Dum Dum Airport,
flying into Singapore
International Airport
at noon on Monday 16 January. They spent the rest of the day shopping or
resting in the hotel. They flew into Christchurch from Sydney on 18 January.
The players had suffered from illnesses throughout. John Reid later wrote :
“I will always remember the skeletal gauntness of Bert Sutcliffe, the
dreadfully yellow complexion of Johnny Hayes, the lack-lustre look about the
usually ebullient Tony MacGibbon who had been a victim of amoebic dysentery,
and the awful lethargy of everyone.” (A
Million Miles of Cricket, 1966) | Time
away from New Zealand 107
days (3
October to 18 January) | |
| Finances | The Maharaja of Vizianagram sponsored the Indian section of the New Zealand
tour. | | |
| Written accounts of
the tour | "Pakistan
Cricket on the March" by Qamaruddin Butt. The tour was also described in: “ “The Mantis and the Cricket”
(2001) Sky TV series with
Jeremy Coney. | | |
| Postscript | Bert Sutcliffe has written how the team were too sick and
exhausted on returning home to New Zealand
to take on the visiting West Indian team and promptly lost three Test matches
in a row before gaining their first Test victory at Eden
Park, Auckland. | | |
| Other Test tours in
1955-56 | West Indians to New
Zealand 1955-56 | | |