History of The England Cricket Team From 1945 - 1960s

1960s

This decade was a difficult one for English cricket. The distinction between amateurs and gentlemen was abandoned in 1963 when the introduction of one day cricket in the County Game helped boost first class cricket but in the Test arena, despite England's strength on paper, Australia held the Ashes for the entire decade.

The controversy over throwing, which had simmered on the Ashes tour, boiled over on South Africa's tour of England in 1960, which also saw small anti apartheid demonstrations. Griffen took South Africa's first test hat trick at Lord's but was later called for throwing by umpire Frank Lee. He was called again in an exhibition match which followed the early finish of the test, and then again for not informing the umpire when he changed to bowling underarm. It was the end of his test career and he didn't play again on the tour. England won the series 3 - 0 and stretched their undefeated run to 16 games at the Oval when Cowdrey and Pullar put on 290 for the first wicket in the second innings to secure the draw.

Ted Dexter (180) and Raman Subba Row (112 on debut) saved England at Edgbaston against the 1961 Australians while Garth McKenzie made his test debut at Lord's and took 5 for 37 in the second innings. The emergence of the Lord's 'ridge' meant that Australia struggled against the pace of Fred Trueman to make the 69 they needed to win after Bill Lawry's first innings century had given them the advantage. Fred Trueman took 11 wickets at Headingley, including a spell of 5 for 0 bowling cutters, squaring the series for England, but Bill Lawry, who scored over 2,000 runs on his first tour of England, ground out another ton at Old Trafford and Benaud's 6 for 70 took the series 2 - 1. Benaud famously bowled Peter May around his legs for a duck.

England lost 2 - 0 against India on the 1961/62 tour of the sub continent but beat Pakistan 1 - 0, with the newly pugnacious Bob Barber (86) and Geoff Pullar (165) posting 198 for the first wicket at Dacca. Peter Parfitt scored 3 hundreds in four tests against the Pakistan tourists in 1962 as England thrashed the tourists in each test with Cowdrey, Dexter and Graveney all scoring heavily and the fast bowlers in command.

The 1962-1963 Ashes tour was something of a disappointment both in terms of entertainment and result, although Colin Cowdrey passed Frank Woolley's 305* in scoring 307 against South Australia at Adelaide. Captain Ted Dexter's 99 helped England secure a draw in the first Test at Adelaide where Brian Statham overhauled Alec Bedser's test wicket taking record of 236. England won the second at Melbourne with David Shepherd scoring 113. John Murray, nursing a shoulder injury batted 100 minutes for 3 not out and Fred Titmus took 7 for 79 in the Sydney match but Australia won by 8 wickets. Don Bradman came out of retirement, at the age of 54, for the Prime Minister's XI against M.C.C. at Canberra but was bowled by Statham for just 4. Australia drew the last test at Sydney, despite Ken Barrington's 101 and 94, and retained the Ashes 1 -1. England dismissed New Zealand 3-0 on the second leg of the tour, with Alan Smith and Colin Cowdrey putting on a world record stand for the 9th wicket in Wellington.

Frank Worrell's West Indies hammered England 3 - 1 in 1963. An innings defeat at Old Trafford was followed by the dramatic match at Lord's when Colin Cowdrey, his arm broken by Wes Hall, returned to the non strikers end as David Allen faced the last two balls of the game with 6 needed to win. Brian Close, with a charging 70 had taken England to the brink of victory after Dexter's dashing 70 in the first innings against the fearsome pace of Hall and Charlie Griffith with Fred Trueman taking 11 for 152. Trueman took 12 for 119 at Edgbaston to give England their only win of the series but Sober's 102 at Headingley and the bowling of Gibbs and Griffith was too much for England, who also failed to defend 253 at the Oval.

England's tour of India in 1963-1964 saw 5 high scoring draws. R.G. Nadkarni bowled 131 balls without conceding a run in the Test at Madras, and headed the batting averages with 98. India scored 7 centuries to England's 4 but Fred Titmus took 27 wickets.

The 1964 Australians retained the Ashes once again with a 1-0 win. Wally Grout sportingly refused to run out Fred Titmus after he was accidentally knocked over by bowler Neil Hawke and left stranded at Trent Bridge, where Geoff Boycott made his debut. Rain spoiled the game, as it did at Lord's where John Edrich scored 120 in his first Ashes innings. Australia took the test, and the series, at Headingley where Burge belted 160 and Fred Titmus took 6 for 94 off 77 overs. Dexter took him off with Australian 187 for 7 and the Australians doubled their score against the new ball, going on to win by 7 wickets. Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry put on 201 for the first wicket and Simpson went on to post 311. Simpson escaped a 'close' run out decision early on. England saved the game with 256 from Ken Barrington, his 10th test century but his first at home. Most famously Fred Trueman took his 300th wicket in his 65th test, Hawke was the first to congratulate him after being caught by Colin Cowdrey.

England played well in their next two series, defeating South Africa 1 -0 on the 1964-1965 tour, the last they made before South Africa's isolation. England won at Durban, thanks to centuries from Barrington and Parks, and drew the other four. John Edrich scored 310* at Headingley against New Zealand in 1965, hitting a record 57 boundaries. Edrich put on 369 with Ken Barrington (163) who had been dropped after the Edgbaston test for taking 437 minutes to score 137. He failed to score in twenty overs at one point. John Snow made his debut for England who won the series 3 - 0. It was the first summer of 'twin tours' and South Africa proved sterner opposition, winning at Trent Bridge by 94 runs. The superb Graeme Pollock scored 125 off 145 balls and brother Peter Pollock took 10 for 87. England were frustrated by the weather at the Oval, where they made a desperate attempt to square the series. Colin Bland, a fine batsman as well as brilliant fielder, made a century and England finished on 308 for 4. It was only the second series win for South Africa in what was the last Test played between the two countries until the end of apartheid.

There were 7 totals over 400 in the 1965/66 Ashes, four by Australia for whom Bill Lawry was a fixture. Bob Barber made a brilliant 185 at Sydney, putting on 234 with Geoff Boycott. John Edrich scored 2 hundreds for England in the series while Bob Cowper scored 307* in 727 minutes for Australia in the final test at Melbourne. Doug Walters scored 155 and 115 in his first two matches. The 1 -1 Ashes draw was followed by 3 more drawn tests in New Zealand.

The genius of Garry Sobers was in full bloom on the West Indies 1966 tour of England. He scored 161, 163*, 94 and 174 to set up 3 test wins and save the Lord's test against all the odds when he put on 274 with cousin David Holford after the West Indies had been reduced to 90 - 5. Colin Milburn scored a thrilling 94 on debut then 126 at Lords but his career was tragically curtailed by a car accident in which he lost an eye. Ken Barrington was given a thorough working over by Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith and was left out after two matches when the strain got too much. Derek Underwood was hit in the teeth by Charlie Griffith when the West Indies needed just one wicket to win. Basil Butcher scored 209 at Trent Bridge. Cowdrey was replaced by the battling Brian Close as captain at the Oval and the indefategable Yorkshireman led his team from the front to an innings victory. Graveney (165), Ken Higgs (63) and John Snow (59*) put on 361 for England's last three wickets in their first innings.

India lost all three tests in the first half of 1967 when Geoff Boycott was famously dropped for scoring too slowly in his 246* at Headingley. Pakistan were beaten 2 - 0, with Ken Barrington scoring a hundred in each of the three tests. Although England won the match, Pakistan played brilliantly at the Oval where Asif Iqbal made a dazzling 146.

England eked out a rare series victory against the West Indies on the 1967-1968 tour, thanks to Garry Sobers' inviting declaration. Ken Barrington made 143 in the opening test at Port of Spain, his fourth in four tests, as did John Edrich, while rioting disrupted the Sabina Park match after Basil Butcher was given run out. Cowdrey was back as England captain after Brian Close had characteristically refused to apologise after a time wasting incident in a county match at Edgbaston. Fred Titmus lost 4 toes in a boating accident before the 3rd test.

The 1968 Ashes series was once again a 1 -1 draw, with much attention paid to Australian mystery spinner Johnny Gleeson. Lawry's Australians won the first test at Old Trafford but were rolled for 78 at Lord's where Milburn scored a rollicking 83. Wintry conditions - the ground was white with hail on the first day - allowed the Australians to escape. Cowdrey scored a hundred when he became the first test player to play 100 matches. England won the Oval test after volunteers from the crowd helped clear the puddles after a storm, and Australia, 85 for 5 when the rain came at lunch, were bowled out by Derek Underwood who took 7 for 50.

Having scored 158 in the Oval Test, Basil D'Oliveira was controversially left out of the tour party to South Africa. Tom Cartwright withdrew with injury and South African Prime Minister John Vorster objected to D'Oliveira replacing him. M.C.C. cancelled the tour and journeyed instead to Pakistan, where trouble was never far away. Draws at Lahore and Dacca were followed by riots in Karachi where Milburn, Graveney and Knott all scored centuries. The test, and the tour, were abandoned.

England ended the decade on a high, defeating both the fading West Indies and New Zealand 2 - 0 at home in 1969. John Hampshire scored a debut century at Lords against the West Indies but it proved a false dawn in his test career. Ray Illingworth became a surprise, but wise, choice as England captain after Colin Cowdrey suffered an achilles injury. Glenn Turner, in his original incarnation as a blocker, carried his bat for 43 in New Zealand's 131 at Lord's.