Test Cricket Tour New Zealand to Australia 1973-74

Test Cricket Tours - New Zealand to Australia 1973-74

Tour of Australia 1973-74                     Captain : Bevan Congdon

Twelfth New Zealand Test tour.
(November 1973 -
           February 1974)

First Test-playing tour of Australia by New Zealand
   (no previous tour)



This was New Zealand's first Test tour of Australia, 44 years after gaining Test recognition and 28 years since the first Test match was played between the two countries in 1946. In September 1949 the Australian Board of Control had proposed an exchange of visits by sides of Test status in 1951-52 (in New Zealand) and 1953-54 (in Australia), but neither materialised.
On 8 March 1971 the New Zealand Cricket Council accepted Australian proposals for twin tours between the two countries in 1973-74 with three Test matches to be played in each country
In the run-up to the Test series three state sides beat the tourists. Already weakened by a string of players being unable to tour, New Zealand's leading player Glenn Turner was then incapacitated by a broken finger. An early loss in the series, the Melbourne Test, roused a fight-back at Sydney where the New Zealanders had Australia in an apparently hopeless position when rain washed out the final day. Rain also curtailed the third Test but the home umpires who might have taken the players off the sodden square generously gave Australia enough time to send New Zealand to another innings defeat. The New Zealanders ended their tour by taking part in the one-day knock-out competition under new sponsors Gillette.
Congdon came in for criticism for his cautious captaincy (thouigh applauded for not complaining about the umpires not taking the players off the field at Adelaide). In mitigation, too many of the leading players had made themselves unavailable to tour. On return from Melbourne in February, the manager admitted, too, that the team was under-prepared.
The tour replaced a visit by Pakistan, which was cancelled on 3 March owing to a disagreement over payment to the Pakistan players.

All New Zealand tours

Previous tour
England 1973

Next tour
Pakistan 1976-77

Next tour of Australia
1980-81

Members of the Test tour party (14 + 1)

Opening batsmen Glenn Turner, John Parker
Middle-order batsmen Bev Congdon, Brian Hastings, Mike Shrimpton, John Morrison, [+ Jeremy Coney (reinforcement)]
Wicket-keepers Ken Wadsworth, Keith Campbell
Spin bowlers Gren Alabaster, David O’Sullivan
Fast bowlers Dayle Hadlee, Richard Hadlee, Brian Andrews, Lance Cairns,

G D Alabaster
O
40
LHB    OB

B Andrews
O
28
RFM

B L Cairns
CD
24
RHB    RM

K O Campbell
O
30
RHB    reserve WK

B E Congdon
O
35
RHB    RM    captain

D R Hadlee
C
25
RFM

R J Hadlee
C
22
RFM

B F Hastings
C
33
RHB

J F M Morrison
W
26
RHB   SLA

D R O'Sullivan
CD
29
SLA

J M Parker
ND
22
RHB

M J F Shrimpton
CD
33
RHB

G M Turner
O
26
RHB opener   vice-captain

K J Wadsworth
C
27
WK

Provincial representation:
(Plunket Shield teams)

A - Auckland (0)
C - Canterbury (4)
CD - Central Districts (3)
ND - Northern Districts (1)
O - Otago (5)
W - Wellington (1)

Average age of team at time of first Test match
(29 December 1973) :
29 yrs 0 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Congdon 42, Hastings 22, Turner 22, Wadsworth 22, D R Hadlee 13, Shrimpton 8, Parker 4, R J Hadlee 2, O'Sullivan 1, Alabaster 0, Andrews 0, Cairns 0, Campbell 0, Coney 0, Morrison 0.

Tour Officials

R A ‘Bob’ Vance
Tour Manager

Selectors

Ken Deas, Frank Cameron, Frank Mooney.

Selection

Unavailable : Mark Burgess, Richard Collinge, Hedley Howarth, Terry Jarvis, John McIntyre, Bruce Murray, Vic Pollard, Rodney Redmond, Bruce Taylor.
The final training group of 23 did not include Mike Shrimpton who was later picked for the tour.
Tour Party Announced : 4 November 1973.
Gren Alabaster was selected at the age of 39 and after 18 seasons in New Zealand cricket. Both Turner and Congdon used to play under his captaincy for Otago.
Not selected: Graham Vivian (A) - it was not the first New Zealand side to tour without an Aucklander (there was also 1955-56) but this omission was keenly felt by the cricket association.

Time between selection and departure from New Zealand
23 days
(4 - 27 November)

Travel
Christchurch Q Melbourne

There was a ‘cricket clinic’ at Christchurch in early November. After a one-day match against Canterbury, the team flew from Harewood Airport, Christchurch, to Melbourne’s Essendon Airport on 27 November 1973.

Time spent in Australia
   69 days
(27 November - 4 February)

On-tour selection panel

Bevan Congdon (captain), Glenn Turner (vice-captain), Ken Wadsworth.

Reinforcements

Ken Wadsworth had mumps at the beginning of the tour.

J V Coney
W
21
RHB    RM

Jeremy Coney flew in for Glenn Turner while his broken hand (sustained in the slip field) was in plaster. At the same time John Parker had badly bruised ribs and John Morrison had received a crack on the side of the face when hooking in the match against Queensland

Fixtures/Results

The itinerary was announced by Alan Barnes, secretary of the Australian Board, on 15 May 1973.

a
† Christchurch
Canterbury (35 overs)
Won 23 r
b
Melbourne
Victoria
Drawn
c
† Newcastle
Newcastle(40 overs)
Won 5 w
d
Sydney
New South Wales
Lost 7 w
e
Brisbane
Queensland
Lost inns 2 r
f
† Brisbane
Queensland(40 overs)
Lost 71 r
g
† Canberra
Australian Capital Territory
Won 78 r
h
Adelaide
South Australia
Lost 5 w
i
MELBOURNE
AUSTRALIA First Test
LOST inns 25 r
j
SYDNEY
AUSTRALIA Second Test
DRAWN
k
Launceston
Tasmania
Won 94 r
l
† Hobart
Tasmania(2-day)
Won 4 w
m
Perth
Western Australia
Won 4 w
n
ADELAIDE
AUSTRALIA Third Test
LOST inns 57 r
o
† Adelaide
South Australia(Gillette Cup semi-final)
Won 40 r
p
† Melbourne
Western Australia (Gillette Cup final)
Lost 7 w

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test:
32 days
(27 November - 29 December)

Test appearances on tour

3 - Congdon, D R Hadlee, R J Hadlee, Hastings, Morrison, O'Sullivan, Parker, Wadsworth.
2 - Andrews, Coney, Shrimpton, Turner,
1 - Cairns
0 -   Alabaster, Campbell.

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
G D Alabaster
x

x
x

x
x

x
x
x

x

B Andrews
x

x
x
x
x

T
T

x

x

B L Cairns
x

x
x

x
x
x
x

x
x
x
T

x
K O Campbell
x

x
x
x
x
x
x

x
x

x

J V Coney

x
x
x
x

T
x
x
x
T

B E Congdon
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
T
T
x

x
T
x
x
D R Hadlee

x

x
x
x

x
T
T
x

x
T
x
x
R J Hadlee
x

x
x
x

x
x
x
T
T

x
x
T
x
x
B F Hastings

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
T
T
x

x
T
x
x
J F M Morrison
x

x
x

x

x
x
T
T
x
x
x
T

x
D R O'Sullivan
x

x

x
x

x
x
T
T
x

T

x
J M Parker
x

x
x
x
x
x

x
T
T

x
x
T
x
x
M J F Shrimpton
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
T
T

x

x
x
G M Turner
x

x
x
x

T

x
x
x
T
x
x
K J Wadsworth

x
x
T
T
x
x
x
T
x
x
R E S U L T S
W

D
W
L
L
L
W
L
L
D
W
W
W
L
W
L

New Zealand’s six previous Test tour results:

in England 1973 (3 Tests)
- lost 0-2
in West Indies 1971-72 (5 Tests)
- drew 0-0
in India & Pakistan 1969-70 (6 Tests)
- drew 1-1 and won 1-0
in England 1969 (3 Tests)
- lost 0-2
in England 1965 (3 Tests)
- lost 0-3
in India & Pakistan 1964-65 (7 Tests)
- lost 0-1, lost 0-2

Highlights

• John Parker scored 108 in the first innings at Sydney, and Morrison scored 117 in the second innings.
• John Morrison was the most successful New Zealand batsman with 249 runs in the Tests at 41.50.
• Australia needed 456 runs to win and were 30 for 2 when rain washed out the last days’ play.
• David O’Sullivan took 5 wickets for 148 in the third Test at Adelaide.

⋆Tour Summary

F
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
3
0
2
1
-
Other first-class matches
6
2
3
1
-
ϯ Minor matches
7
5
2
0
-
All Matches
16
7
7
2
-

⋆ (inc Gillette Cup and pre-tour limited-overs match in Canterbury)

F Fixtures   W Won   L Lost   T Tied D Drawn   Canc Cancelled
Aban abandoned

Return to New Zealand
Sydney Q regional airports

On 4 February 1974 the team flew from Melbourne to Sydney, then took separate flights to Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Time away from New Zealand       69 days
(27 November - 4 February)

Finances

Profit £10000.

Written accounts of the tour

None

Postscript

Bev Congdon said the tour was an especially hard one and that all the Australian states were of a very strong standard. He expressed doubts about his own availability for the return Test series to follow in New Zealand, and Glenn Turner was considered for the captaincy, but Congdon continued with the job

Other Test tours in 1973-74

England (M.C.C.) to West Indies 1973-74