Tour of South Africa 1961-62               Captain : John Reid

Seventh New Zealand Test tour

( October 1961 -

              March  1962)

Second  Test-playing  tour of  South Africa by New Zealand

   (previous tour 1953-54)

The South Africans welcomed New Zealand to the republic for the second and last time until 1994.  Because South Africa left the Commonwealth in May 1961 they were deemed to be no longer members of the Imperial Cricket Conference; so - to be strictly correct - the series, always recognised as proper Test matches in the records, were unofficial 'representative' matches.

Seventy students made an anti-apartheid protest outside the New Zealand Board of Control headquarters in Christchurch while the selection meeting to pick the tour party was taking place.

The record-breaking achievements of John Reid, the New Zealand captain, including an aggregate of 1915 first-class runs, were especially remarkable because he slipped and injured his knee in Sydney on the outward journey. Reid is reported to have suffered pain all through the tour and was barely able even to climb stairs at the end of a day’s play.

The New Zealanders won their first Test match abroad at Cape Town. By winning again in the final Test at Port Elizabeth, they squared the series two matches all.

In March 2012 this team met again in areunion at Basin Reserve, organised by Don Neely.

All New Zealand tours

Previous tour

England 1958

Next tour

India, Pakistan and England 1965

Next tour of South Africa

1994-95

Members of the Test tour party (15)

Opening batsmen:  John Guy,  Graham Dowling, John Sparling.

Middle-order batsmen: Paul Barton, Zin Harris, Murray Chapple, Noel McGregor.

All-rounder  John Reid

Wicket-keepers:Artie Dick,  John Ward.

Spin bowlers:  Jack Alabaster, Bryan Yuile.

Fast Bowlers: Gary Bartlett, Frank Cameron, Dick Motz.

Provincial representation

   (Plunket Shield teams

A - Auckland (1)

C - Canterbury (5)

CD - Central Districts (2)

ND - Northern Districts (0)

O - Otago (4)

W - Wellington (3)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(8 December 1961) : 

26 yrs  11 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Reid 34,  McGregor 15,  Guy 10,  Alabaster 8,  Chapple 8,   Sparling 5,  Harris 3,  Bartlett 0,  Barton 0,  Cameron 0,  Dick 0,  Dowling 0,  Motz 0,  Ward 0,  Yuile 0. 

Tour Officials

Selectors

Gordon Leggat (tour manager),  John Reid (captain),  Jack Newman.

Selection

Gordon Leggat was appointed manager in January 1961.  He was also one of the selectors.

Unavailable  : Bert Sutcliffe had announced his retirement.

Tour Party Announced  : 22 April 1961.

Not selected:   Bob Blair,  Alex Moir.

Zin Harris and Murray Chapple were brought back but only three seamers were selected for the tour and one of these, Gary Bartlett, was prone to injury.

Time between selection and departure from New Zealand

  167 days

(22 April to 6 October)

Travel

ChristchurchQ  Sydney

PerthQ  Johannesburg

Before the tour, two team get-togethers were organised at Christchurch and Wellington.

The team re-assembled in Christchurch on 6 October 1961 and flew to Sydney that day. They flew to Perth, arriving on Sunday 8 October for 3 days of net practice and played Western Australia.

They left immediately after the match on a Qantas flight for South Africa, leaving Perth Airport at 6 pm. The team arrived at Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg, on 17 October 1961. Two days later they flew from Jan Smuts to Southern Rhodesia for their first match.

Time spent in South Africa

   133 days

(17 October - 27 February)

On-tour selection panel

John Reid (captain),  Murray Chapple (vice-captain),  Jack Alabaster.

Reinforcements

None.  Graham Dowling fractured a finger at Perth and did not play for a month.

John Ward chipped a bone in his thumb against Natal and was discomforted for virtually the rest of the tour.

The manager Gordon Leggat played in one match against the Natal XI.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in South Africa before First Test: 

52 days

(17 October - 8 December)

Test appearances on tour

5  -  Alabaster,  Bartlett,  Cameron,  Dick,  Harris,  McGregor,  Motz,  Reid, 

4  -  Barton,  Dowling

3  -  Sparling

2  -  Chapple, Guy, 

1  - 

0  -   Ward,  Yuile.

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

New Zealand’s six previous Test tour results:

in England 1958 (5 Tests)

 - lost 0-4

in India & Pakistan 1955-56 (8 Tests)

 - lost 0-2 and lost 0-2

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

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Tour Summary

Return to New Zealand

JohannesburgQ  Adelaide

SydneyQ  Christchurch

After the fifth Test and a visit to Kruger National Park game reserve, the New Zealanders returned from Johannesburg (via Mauritius, the Cocos Islands and Perth) to Adelaide, arriving on 28 February. They were met by Sir Donald Bradman as President of the Australian Board of Control.

They flew to Sydney by way of Melbourne for the final matches.

The team spent an extra day in Sydney before leaving for Christchurch on 14 March 1962.  The touring side’s final match, played after arriving home, was played against Ron Roberts’ XI in Christchurch on 16 March.

Time away from New Zealand    160 days  

(6 October to 14 March)

Finances

Written accounts of the tour

"Sword of Willow"   by  John Reid  (A H  &  A W Reed, Wellington,  1963)

"John Reid's Kiwis"   R S Whitington (Whitcombe & Thoms, Christchurch, 1962)

Postscript

Other Test tours in 1961-62