West Indian cricket team in England in 1923

The West Indian cricket team toured England in the 1923 season. The team played 28 matches between 19 May and 5 September 1923 of which 20 were regarded as first-class. This was the 3rd West Indian tour following those of 1900 and 1906.

West Indian cricket team in England in 1923
Part of 1923 English cricket season
Date19 May 1923 – 5 September 1923
LocationUnited Kingdom
ResultNo representative matches played
Teams
Captains
Most runs
Most wickets

The early weather was disappointing and little useful practice was possible before the tour started. 3 of the first 5 matches were lost but the remainder of the tour was much more successful and only 4 of the remaining 23 matches were lost. Because of the early poor results and the lack of representative matches public interest was rather limited.

George Challenor was by far the best batsman scoring twice as many runs as any other player at an average of over 50. He scored 6 of the 8 first class centuries scored by the team and 2 of the 3 in minor matches. George Francis led the bowling with 82 first class wickets at an average of just over 15. George John, Cyril Browne and Victor Pascall also made useful contributions with the ball. The fielding was generally regarded as of high standard with Learie Constantine's cover point fielding being particularly commented on.

Touring team

1923 West Indies Team

Harold Austin seems to have taken a large part in organising the tour after the 1922-23 Inter-Colonial Tournament in September 1922. He seems to have selected the Barbados, British Guiana and Trinidad tourists. Little was known of the Jamaica players and they were allocated just 3 places.

The 16 players that made up the team consisted of:

Name
H.B.G. Austin (c)Barbados
C.R. BrowneBritish Guiana
G. ChallenorBarbados
L.N. ConstantineTrinidad
G.A.R. DewhurstTrinidad
M.P. FernandesBritish Guiana
G.N. FrancisBarbados
J.K. HoltJamaica
C.V. HunterBritish Guiana
H.W. InceBarbados
G. JohnTrinidad
R.K. Nunes (vc)Jamaica
V.S. PascallTrinidad
R.L. PhillipsJamaica
J.A. SmallTrinidad
P.H. TariltonBarbados

Despite being 17 years since the last tour, two of the tourists, Austin and Challenor, had been part of the 1906 team. Learie Constantine was the son of Lebrun Constantine who had toured in 1900 and 1906. Victor Pascall was the uncle of Learie Constantine.

R.H. Mallett was the manager. Austin was chosen as captain and Nunes as vice-captain.

The professionals Francis and John were black as were Browne, Constantine, Holt, Pascall and Small amongst the amateurs.

Preliminaries

Except for the Jamaica representative the team sailed on the steam ship "Intaba" which left British Guiana on 9 April and, sailing via Trinidad and Barbaodos, reached Southampton on 30 April. The Jamaican players had arrived two days earlier.

The players practised at Lord's and practice matches were arranged including a match against the Indian Gymkhana but the weather was very cold.

Matches

Status

Of the 28 matches 8 were not regarded as first-class. These were the matches against Durham, Northumberland, Cheshire, Wiltshire, Lord Harris's XI, Dublin University, Northern Cricket Union, and Norfolk. These are shown in italics below.

Match 1 v Cambridge University

19, 21 May
West Indians
117
v Cambridge University
179
Lost by 9 wickets
Cambridge

208 89/1

Match 2 v Sussex

23, 24 May
West Indians
213
v Sussex
190
Won by 26 runs
Hove

75 72

Match 3 v M.C.C.

26, 28, 29 May
M.C.C.
228
v West Indians
121/8
Drawn
Lord's

Match 4 v Hampshire

May 30,31
Hampshire
143
v West Indians
112
Lost by 144 runs
Southampton

252/8 (dec) 139

Match 5 v Middlesex

2, 4, 5 June
Middlesex
337
v West Indians
264
Lost by 70 runs
Lord's

82 75

Match 6 v Oxford University

6, 7, 8 June
Oxford University
390/6 (dec)
v West Indians
388
Won by 8 wickets
Oxford

178 183/2

Match 7 v Essex

9, 11, 12 June
Essex
148
v West Indians
289
Won by 3 wickets
Ilford

233 93/7

Match 8 v Durham

13, 14 June
West Indians
125
v Durham
63
Won by 180 runs
Darlington

192 74

Match 9 v Northumberland

15, 16 June
West Indians
286
v Northumberland
118
Won by an innings and 9 runs
Newcastle

159

Match 10 v Derbyshire

20, 21, 22 June
West Indians
97
v Derbyshire
75
Drawn
Buxton

36/2

Match 11 v Northamptonshire

23, 25, 26 June
West Indians
324/5 (dec)
v Northamptonshire
229
Drawn
Northampton

Match 12 v Lancashire

23, 25, 26 June
Lancashire
405
v West Indians
215
Drawn
Old Trafford

121/5 309

Match 13 v Cheshire

27, 28, 29 June
West Indians
299
v Cheshire
162
Won by 140 runs
Macclesfield

93/5 (dec) 90

Match 14 v Nottinghamshire

30, 2, 3 June July
Nottinghamshire
353
v West Indians
317
Drawn
Trent Bridge

345 219/0

Match 15 v Leicestershire

4, 5, 6 July
West Indians
385
v Leicestershire
242
Drawn
Leicester

109/4 (dec) 179/7

Match 16 v Wiltshire

11, 12 July
West Indians
356/8 (dec)
v Wiltshire
110
Won by an innings and 34 runs
Swindon

212

Match 17 v Warwickshire

14, 16 July
Warwickshire
240
v West Indians
321
Won by 9 wickets
Edgbaston

104 24/1

Match 18 v Lord Harris' XI

20, 21 July
Lord Harris's XI
117
v West Indians
80
Won by 3 wickets
Belmont

126 164/7

Match 19 v Dublin University

23, 24 July
Dublin University
100
v West Indians
170
Won by 8 wickets
Dublin

118 51/2

Match 20 v Northern Cricket Union

25, 26 July
West Indians
158
v Northern Cricket Union
131
Drawn
Belfast

161 142/8

Match 21 v Gloucestershire

28, 30, 31 July
Gloucestershire
211
v West Indians
235
Drawn
Bristol

Match 22 v Surrey

1, 2, 3 August
Surrey
87
v West Indians
305
Won by 10 wickets
The Oval

336 121/0

Match 23 v Glamorgan

4, 6, 7 August
Glamorgan
115
v West Indians
201
Lost by 43 runs
Cardiff

324 195

Match 24 v Somerset

8, 9, 10 August
West Indians
306
v Somerset
112
Won by 190 runs
Weston-super-Mare

134 130

Match 25 v Kent

18, 19, 20 August
Kent
205
v West Indians
154
Lost 171 runs
Canterbury

250/8 (dec) 130

Match 26 v Norfolk

22, 23, 24 August
West Indians
204
v Norfolk
94
Won by 231 runs
Norwich

206/4 (dec) 85

Match 27 v Worcestershire

19, 30, 31 August
Worcestershire
223
v West Indians
145
Drawn
Worcester

175/8

Match 28 v H.D.G Leveson-Gower's XI

3, 4, 5 September
West Indians
110
v H.D.G. Leveson-Gower's XI
218
Lost by 4 wickets
Scarborough

135 31/6

Summary

Of the 20 first-class matches played, 6 matches were won, 7 were lost and 7 were drawn. In all matches 13 were won, 7 were lost and 8 were drawn.

Post Tour

Except for Jamaican players the team returned on board the steam ship "Ingoma" departing Southampton on 9 September and arriving in Barbados on the 21st.

Averages

The following averages are for the 20 first-class matches only.

Batting

PlayerPINORHSAve10050C/S
G Challenor203551556155*51.86684
MP Fernandes1119452311034.86126
JA Small182727769431.04-720
HBG Austin111623607625.71-24
PH Tarilton17282554109*21.30132
RK Nunes152414558919.78-3-
HW Ince1626338146*16.56--3
LN Constantine203144257715.74-215
JK Holt121902935615.42-26
G John1013410844*12.00--5
GN Francis152242074111.50--15
CR Browne1826225824*10.75--14
VS Pascall192872224010.57--11
GAR Dewhurst152351825210.11-120/5
CV Hunter2201095.00---
RL Phillips1--------

In all 28 matches G Challenor was leading run scorer with 1967. JA Small with 1169 also reached 1000 runs.

Bowling

PlayerOMRWBBAve5i10m
GN Francis505.51191278826/3315.5852
G John363.284956497/5219.5121
LN Constantine244.439809375/4821.861-
CR Browne6961711672757/9722.294-
VS Pascall470.5921263526/7724.282-
G Challenor1735422/1727.00--
JA Small19628636195/9333.471-
JK Holt2548011/2280.00--
RL Phillips70210

In all 28 matches GN Francis took 102 wickets. G John took exactly 100 wickets.

References

    Annual reviews

    Further reading

    • L S Smith, West Indies Cricket History and Cricket Tours of England 1900, 1906 and 1923, 1923
    • Peter Wynne-Thomas, The Complete History of Cricket Tours at Home & Abroad, 1989
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