The England cricket team toured New Zealand in March 1955 and played a two-match Test series against the New Zealand team. The series was part of a longer tour which began in September 1954 and included a match in Colombo against Ceylon and a full tour of Australia during which the England team retained The Ashes, their first series win in Australia for 22 years. [1] [2] The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and the English team played under the name MCC in non-Test matches. [1]
The New Zealand leg of the tour began at the beginning of March, the England team having been away for more than five months on a trip which was the last major MCC tour to use sea travel. [3] It began with a first-class match against Canterbury at Christchurch. A further first-class match was played between the two Test matches against Wellington. [2] England won the Test series 2–0, leaving New Zealand still without a win in a Test match since gaining Test status in 1923. [3]
In the second Test, New Zealand were dismissed for 26 runs in their second innings, the lowest score in Test cricket history. [1] [3] [4] The score was made in New Zealand's second innings and resulted in an innings defeat in the match, despite only trailing by 46 runs after the first innings were completed. [5] It was four runs less than the previous lowest score in Test matches made by South Africa against England in 1896 and 1924 and beat New Zealand's previous lowest Test score of 42 made against Australia in 1946. [4] As of June 2022 it remains the lowest score by a side in a Test match. [6] [7]
Despite being played on slow pitches which made scoring difficult, [3] the matches on the tour were well attended. Gate receipts of £26,000 made the series profitable for the hosts. [4]
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The first match the England side played in New Zealand was against Canterbury at Lancaster Park, Christchurch. Between the two Test matches a further match was played against Wellington at Basin Reserve. The MCC side won both matches. [2] [3] [4]
Sir Leonard Hutton was an English cricketer. He played as an opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England in 79 Test matches between 1937 and 1955. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described him as "one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket". He set a record in 1938 for the highest individual innings in a Test match in only his sixth Test appearance, scoring 364 runs against Australia, a milestone that stood for nearly 20 years. Following the Second World War, he was the mainstay of England's batting. In 1952, he became the first professional cricketer of the 20th century to captain England in Tests; under his captaincy England won the Ashes the following year for the first time in 19 years.
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Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950, winning four Tests, losing seven and drawing three. Yardley was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1948, and in his obituary in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack he was described as Yorkshire's finest amateur since Stanley Jackson.
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William Gilbert Anthony Parkhouse was a Welsh cricketer who played in seven Tests for England in 1950, 1950–51 and 1959.
George Nathaniel Francis was a West Indian cricketer who played in West Indies' first Test in their inaugural Test tour of England. He was a fast bowler of renowned pace and was notably successful on West Indies' non-Test playing tour of England in 1923, but he was probably past his peak by the time the West Indies were elevated to Test status. He was born in Trents, St. James, Barbados and died at Black Rock, Saint Michael, also in Barbados.
Robert Hector Catterall was a South African cricketer who played in 24 Test matches from 1922 to 1931.
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The England cricket team toured Australia in the 1936–37 season to play a five-match Test series against Australia for The Ashes. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name.
The England cricket team toured Australia and New Zealand between October 1962 and March 1963 with a one-match stopover in Colombo, en route to Australia. The tour was organised by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and, in all matches other than Tests, the team was called MCC. In Australia, the tour itinerary consisted of 15 first-class matches, including the five-match Test series against Australia in which The Ashes were at stake. It was the last England cricket tour of Australia where the team travelled by ship.
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A cricket team representing England toured Australia in the 1932–33 season. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name. The tour included five Test matches in Australia, and England won The Ashes by four games to one. The tour was highly controversial because of the bodyline bowling tactics used by the England team under the captaincy of Douglas Jardine. After the Australian tour was over, the MCC team moved on to play in New Zealand, where two further Test matches were played.
This article describes the history of New Zealand cricket from the 1918–19 season until 1945.
This article describes the history of New Zealand cricket from the 1945–46 season until 1970.
The English cricket team's tour to Australia in 1903–04 was the first time the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) took over responsibility for sponsoring and arranging an overseas tour representing England. England had not won the Ashes since the 1896 series in England. The MCC appointed Plum Warner to put together and captain a team, which was very much seen as the underdogs against Australia. Warner and his team, however, pulled off the upset the English were looking for and won the five-Test series 3–2. In the first Test at Sydney, R.E. "Tip" Foster scored 287 to set the world record for the highest individual Test innings; the innings remains the highest by a Test debutant.
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