Indian cricket team in England in 1946
Encyclopedia
The Indian cricket team toured England in the 1946 season
and played 29 first-class
fixtures with 11 wins, 4 defeats and 14 draws. The 1946 season marked a return to normal first-class cricket in England following the end of World War II
. The Test series
between England and India was the first to be played in England since 1939.
In its review of the 1946 season, Wisden Cricketers Almanack remarked that "the Indians were the first postwar touring side, and although they were outplayed in the Tests they raised the status and the dignity of their country's sport". Wisden also mentioned that "the weather in 1946 might have been dreadful, but it didn't stop the crowds flocking to games".
The state of the weather was mentioned by John Arlott
who wrote his first match report for The Guardian
when the Indians played Worcestershire
at New Road, Worcester
on 4, 6 and 7 May. Arlott wrote that "New Road was bleak that Saturday morning... dark under the cloud, it was swept by a bitter gale howling across from Diglis".
, who was one of the few players to represent two countries in Test cricket, having played for England during the 1930s.
Squad details below state the player's age at the beginning of the tour, his batting hand, his type of bowling, and his Ranji Trophy
team at the time:
Batsmen
Bowlers
All-rounders
Wicket-keepers
The team relied heavily on all-rounders and some of those listed above as batsmen or bowlers had all-round ability. All except Banerjee and Nimbalkar played in the Test series. The team was largely inexperienced at international level as only six players had made their Test debuts before the Second World War: Pataudi, Amarnath, Hindlekar, Merchant, Mushtaq Ali and Nayudu. In the First Test, which India lost heavily, the team had six debutants: Abdul Hafeez, Gul Mohammad, Hazare, Mankad, Modi and Shinde.
A total of 35 players were used in the two Test trials and, in the end, England used 19 players in the three Test matches, with as many as 10 making only a single appearance. The mainstays of the team who each played in all three Tests were captain Wally Hammond
, opening batsmen Len Hutton
and Cyril Washbrook
, middle order batsman Denis Compton
and opening pace bowler Alec Bedser
.
For the First Test at Lord's, England had only three debutants compared with India's six. Bedser and batting all-rounder Jack Ikin
were the only "new" players in that they had made two and five first-class appearances respectively before the war and each of them was now in his first full season. The third debutant was veteran seam bowler Frank Smailes
who had been playing regularly for Yorkshire
since 1932. England's other four players in this match were also experienced pre-war players: batsman Joe Hardstaff junior
, wicket-keeper Paul Gibb
, leg spinner Doug Wright
and pace bowler Bill Bowes
.
England won the First Test by a convincing ten wicket margin after Bedser took 11 wickets on debut and Hardstaff scored 205*.
Team changes were made for the Second Test in view of the need to try out several players ahead of the winter tour of Australia. Pace bowler Dick Pollard
was introduced, making his Test debut in place of Smailes. Like Smailes, Pollard was an experienced player active since 1933. Veteran pace bowler Bill Voce
was recalled in place of his former bodyline
series colleague Bowes.
The Second Test was drawn but it had a tense climax as India's last wicket pair Sohoni and Hindlekar held on for the final 13 minutes of play to secure the draw with England 125 runs ahead. Bedser again took 11 wickets and Pollard weighed in with 7. Compton, with two half centuries, was the top scorer.
England made six changes for the Third Test, which was drawn after being ruined by rain. Batsmen Laurie Fishlock
, Bill Edrich
and James Langridge were recalled along with fast bowler Alf Gover
. There were two debutants: wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans
and veteran spinner Peter Smith
. They replaced Ikin, Hardstaff, Gibb, Voce, Pollard and Wright.
1946 English cricket season
The 1946 English cricket season was the first full season of first-class cricket to be played in England after World War II. It featured a three-match Test series between England and India, which was arranged at short notice...
and played 29 first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
fixtures with 11 wins, 4 defeats and 14 draws. The 1946 season marked a return to normal first-class cricket in England following the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The Test series
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...
between England and India was the first to be played in England since 1939.
In its review of the 1946 season, Wisden Cricketers Almanack remarked that "the Indians were the first postwar touring side, and although they were outplayed in the Tests they raised the status and the dignity of their country's sport". Wisden also mentioned that "the weather in 1946 might have been dreadful, but it didn't stop the crowds flocking to games".
The state of the weather was mentioned by John Arlott
John Arlott
Leslie Thomas John Arlott OBE was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's Test Match Special. He was also a poet, wine connoisseur and former police officer in Hampshire...
who wrote his first match report for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
when the Indians played Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire 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 Worcestershire...
at New Road, Worcester
New Road, Worcester
New Road, Worcester, England, has been the home cricket ground of Worcestershire County Cricket Club since 1896. Immediately to the northwest is a road called New Road, part of the A44, hence the name.- Overview :...
on 4, 6 and 7 May. Arlott wrote that "New Road was bleak that Saturday morning... dark under the cloud, it was swept by a bitter gale howling across from Diglis".
Test series summary
England and India played three Tests between June and August. England won the series 1–0 with two matches drawn:- First Test at Lord'sLord's Cricket GroundLord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
: England won by 10 wickets - Second Test at Old Trafford: match drawn
- Third Test at 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...
: match drawn
Indian squad
India used a 16-man squad captained by Iftikhar Ali Khan, the Nawab of PataudiIftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi
Iftikhar Ali Khan , sometimes I.A.K. Pataudi was the 8th Nawab of Pataudi and captain of the Indian cricket team. He was one of few cricketers to have played for two countries, having also played for the English Test side...
, who was one of the few players to represent two countries in Test cricket, having played for England during the 1930s.
Squad details below state the player's age at the beginning of the tour, his batting hand, his type of bowling, and his Ranji Trophy
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...
team at the time:
Batsmen
- Nawab of PataudiIftikhar Ali Khan PataudiIftikhar Ali Khan , sometimes I.A.K. Pataudi was the 8th Nawab of Pataudi and captain of the Indian cricket team. He was one of few cricketers to have played for two countries, having also played for the English Test side...
, 36, right-handed batsman (RHB), unattached - Vijay HazareVijay HazareVijay Samuel Hazare was an Indian cricket player from the state of Maharashtra. He captained the Indian cricket team in 14 matches between 1951 and 1953...
31, RHB, right-arm medium pace (RM), BarodaBaroda cricket teamThe Baroda cricket team is a domestic cricket team based in the city of Vadodara. The home ground of the team is the Moti Bagh Stadium on the palace grounds. The team is run by the Baroda Cricket Association. It has been one of the most successful teams in the Ranji Trophy in the new millennium... - Vijay MerchantVijay MerchantVijaysingh Madhavji Merchant , real name Vijay Madhavji Thakersey was an Indian cricketer. A right-hand batter and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler, Merchant played first class cricket for Mumbai cricket team as well as 10 Test matches for India between 1929 and 1951...
34, RHB, RM, Bombay - Rusi ModiRusi ModiRustomji Sheriyar 'Rusi' Modi was an Indian batsman who played for the Indian National Cricket Team from 1946 to 1952....
21, RHB, RM, Bombay - Syed Mushtaq Ali 31, RHB, slow left-arm orthodox spin (SLA), Holkar
Bowlers
- Shute BanerjeeShute BanerjeeSarobindu Nath "Shute" Banerjee was a cricketer who represented India in one official and five unofficial Test matches...
34, RHB, right-arm fast medium pace (RFM), Bihar - C S Nayudu 32, RHB, leg-break and googly (LBG), Holkar
- Sadu Shinde 22, RHB, LBG, MaharashtraMaharashtra cricket teamThe Maharashtra cricket team is a domestic cricket team based in the Indian state of Maharashtra in the city of Pune. It is in the Plate Group of the Ranji Trophy...
- Ranga SohoniRanga SohoniSriranga Wasudev 'Ranga' Sohoni was an Indian Test cricketer....
28, RHB, RFM and off-break (OB), Maharashtra
All-rounders
- Abdul HafeezAbdul KardarAbdul Hafeez Kardar or Abdul Kardar was an international cricketer, who is one of the only three players to have played Test cricket for both India and Pakistan; the other two being Amir Elahi and Gul Mohammad...
21, left-handed batsman (LHB), SLA, unattached - Lala AmarnathLala AmarnathNanik Amarnath Bhardwaj was an Indian Test cricketer. He was the first cricketer to score a Test century for the Indian cricket team, which he achieved on debut...
34, RHB, RM, unattached - Gul MohammadGul MohammadGul Mohammad , sometimes referred to as Gul Mahomed, played Test cricket for India and Pakistan....
24, LHB, left-arm medium pace (LM), Baroda - Vinoo Mankad 29, RHB, SLA, GujaratGujarat cricket teamThe Gujarat cricket team is one of three Ranji Trophy cricket teams representing the state of Gujarat . It was in the Elite Group of the Ranji Trophy although it has had very little success. There have, however, been many cricketers that have passed through its ranks and gone on to play for the...
- Chandra Sarwate 25, RHB, OB, Holkar
Wicket-keepers
- Dattaram HindlekarDattaram HindlekarDattaram Dharmaji Hindlekar was a cricketer who kept wicket for India in Test cricket.Hindlekar toured England in 1936 and 1946 as India's first choice wicket keeper. He opened in the first Test at Lord's in 1936, but chipped a bone in his finger and suffered from blurred vision....
37, RHB, wicket-keeper (WK), Bombay - Raosaheb Nimbalkar 30, RHB, WK, Baroda
The team relied heavily on all-rounders and some of those listed above as batsmen or bowlers had all-round ability. All except Banerjee and Nimbalkar played in the Test series. The team was largely inexperienced at international level as only six players had made their Test debuts before the Second World War: Pataudi, Amarnath, Hindlekar, Merchant, Mushtaq Ali and Nayudu. In the First Test, which India lost heavily, the team had six debutants: Abdul Hafeez, Gul Mohammad, Hazare, Mankad, Modi and Shinde.
England selections
England staged two Test trials, the first in June a week before the First Test and the second in July a week before the Second Test. It was seven years since England had last played a Test match and there was a winter tour of Australia to come so the selectors wanted to look at a large number of players to try and quickly establish the best possible team.A total of 35 players were used in the two Test trials and, in the end, England used 19 players in the three Test matches, with as many as 10 making only a single appearance. The mainstays of the team who each played in all three Tests were captain Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
, opening batsmen Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
and Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
, middle order batsman Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
and opening pace bowler Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
.
For the First Test at Lord's, England had only three debutants compared with India's six. Bedser and batting all-rounder Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
were the only "new" players in that they had made two and five first-class appearances respectively before the war and each of them was now in his first full season. The third debutant was veteran seam bowler Frank Smailes
Frank Smailes
Frank Smailes was an English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire, and one Test for England...
who had been playing regularly for Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
since 1932. England's other four players in this match were also experienced pre-war players: batsman Joe Hardstaff junior
Joe Hardstaff junior
Joseph Hardstaff junior was an English cricketer, who played in twenty three Tests for England from 1935 to 1948...
, wicket-keeper Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Yorkshire, mostly as a batsman but occasionally also keeping wicket.Gibb was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, and played first-class...
, leg spinner Doug Wright
Doug Wright
Doug Wright is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play, I Am My Own Wife.-Early years:Wright was born in Dallas, Texas...
and pace bowler Bill Bowes
Bill Bowes
Bill Bowes was one of the best bowlers of the interwar period and, for a time, the most important force behind Yorkshire's dominance of the County Championship...
.
England won the First Test by a convincing ten wicket margin after Bedser took 11 wickets on debut and Hardstaff scored 205*.
Team changes were made for the Second Test in view of the need to try out several players ahead of the winter tour of Australia. Pace bowler Dick Pollard
Dick Pollard
Richard "Dick" Pollard was an English cricketer born in Westhoughton, Lancashire, who played in four Tests between 1946 and 1948...
was introduced, making his Test debut in place of Smailes. Like Smailes, Pollard was an experienced player active since 1933. Veteran pace bowler Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
was recalled in place of his former bodyline
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...
series colleague Bowes.
The Second Test was drawn but it had a tense climax as India's last wicket pair Sohoni and Hindlekar held on for the final 13 minutes of play to secure the draw with England 125 runs ahead. Bedser again took 11 wickets and Pollard weighed in with 7. Compton, with two half centuries, was the top scorer.
England made six changes for the Third Test, which was drawn after being ruined by rain. Batsmen Laurie Fishlock
Laurie Fishlock
Laurence Barnard "Laurie" Fishlock was an English cricketer, who played in four Tests from 1936 to 1947. A specialist batsman, he achieved little in those four matches, but might have had a much more substantial Test career, had he not lost six of what should have been his best years to World War...
, Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
and James Langridge were recalled along with fast bowler Alf Gover
Alf Gover
Alfred Richard Gover MBE was an English Test cricketer. He was the mainstay of the Surrey bowling attack during the 1930s and played four Tests before and after the Second World War...
. There were two debutants: wicket-keeper 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...
and veteran spinner Peter Smith
Peter Smith (cricketer)
Peter Smith, was an English cricketer, who played for Essex and England. Smith was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1947. An all-rounder, Smith played for Essex from 1929 to 1951.-Life and career:...
. They replaced Ikin, Hardstaff, Gibb, Voce, Pollard and Wright.