A Commonwealth XI cricket team toured

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

from 1 October 1950 to 6 March 1951 and played 27 first-class matches including five unofficial "test matches" against an All-India XI and one against an All-Ceylon XI. The team was nominally captained by

Les Ames Leslie Ethelbert George Ames (3 December 1905 – 27 February 1990) was a wicket-keeper and batsman for the England cricket team and Kent County Cricket Club. In his obituary, ''Wisden'' described him as the greatest wicket-keeper-batsman of a ...

but he had injury problems and often had to hand over to his deputy

Frank Worrell Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell (1 August 1924 – 13 March 1967), sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae, was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator. A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, he became fam ...

. The team was judged to be stronger than the England team which was concurrently (and disastrously) touring Australia. There were numerous problems with health and injury issues which caused early withdrawals but it included

Jim Laker James Charles Laker (9 February 1922 – 23 April 1986) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club from 1946 to 1959 and represented England in 46 Test matches. He was born in Shipley, West Riding of York ...

Sonny Ramadhin Sonny Ramadhin, Chaconia Medal, CM (1 May 1929 – 27 February 2022) was a West Indian cricket team, West Indian cricketer, and was a dominant bowler of the 1950s. He was the first of many West Indian cricketers of Indo-Trinidadian, Indian orig ...

Derek Shackleton Derek Shackleton (12 August 1924 – 28 September 2007) was a Hampshire County Cricket Club, Hampshire and England cricket team, England bowler (cricket), bowler. He took over 100 wickets in 20 consecutive seasons of first-class cricket, but onl ...

Jack Ikin John Thomas Ikin (7 March 1918 – 15 September 1984) was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Test cricket, Test matches from 1946 to 1955. A "calm, popular left-hander who also bowled leg spin", Ikin played most of his cricket for Lanc ...

Harold Gimblett Harold Gimblett (19 October 1914 – 30 March 1978) was a cricketer who played for Somerset and England. He was known for his fast scoring as an opening batsman and for the much-repeated story of his debut. In a book first published in 1982 ...

Fred Ridgway Frederick Ridgway (10 August 1923 – 26 September 2015) was an English professional cricketer who played in five Test matches for the England cricket team on the 1951–52 tour of India. Ridgway played county cricket as a fast bowler for Ken ...

Dick Spooner Richard Thompson Spooner (30 December 1919 – 20 December 1997) was an English cricketer who played for Warwickshire and England. A latecomer who did not play first-class cricket until he was 28, Spooner was a quick-witted left-handed batsman ...

George Tribe George Edward Tribe (4 October 1920 – 5 April 2009) was an Australian cricketer who played in three Test matches from 1946 to 1947, as well as an Australian rules footballer with the Footscray Football Club in the VFL. Cricket career Tr ...

, Les Jackson,

Bruce Dooland Bruce Dooland (1 November 1923 – 8 September 1980) was an Australian cricketer who played in three Test matches for the Australian national cricket team during the late 1940s. During the war Dooland was in an Australian Commando unit servin ...

George Emmett George Malcolm Emmett (2 December 1912 – 18 December 1976) was an English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. He also played one Test cricket, Test match for English cricket team, England in 1948. ...

Laurie Fishlock Laurence Barnard Fishlock (2 January 1907 – 25 June 1986) was an English cricketer, who played in four Test matches from 1936 to 1947. A specialist batsman, he achieved little in those four matches, but might have had a much more substantial ...

Harold Stephenson Harold William Stephenson (18 July 1920 – 23 April 2008) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Somerset. He captained Somerset from 1960 until his retirement in 1964. Stephenson is easily the most successful wicket-keeper in his ...

Ken Grieves Kenneth James Grieves (27 August 1925 – 3 January 1992) was an Australian first class cricketer who played for Lancashire. A middle order batsman, he made 452 first-class appearances for Lancashire and made a county record 555 catches. He oft ...

Ray Dovey Raymond Randall Dovey (18 July 1920 – 27 December 1974), known as Ray Dovey, was an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club from 1938 to 1954. Dovey was born in Chislehurst in Kent in 1920 and first played for Kent before t ...

and

Billy Sutcliffe William Herbert Hobbs Sutcliffe (10 October 1926 – 16 September 1998) was an English amateur first-class cricketer, and the son of Herbert Sutcliffe; his middle name was in honour of Jack Hobbs. Sutcliffe was born in Pudsey, near Leeds, ...

. The Commonwealth XI were unbeaten on the tour. They won the second match against India at Bombay's Brabourne Stadium by ten wickets. This was the only one of the unofficial "tests" in which Jim Laker could take part (he went home soon after this match for health reasons) and he took eight wickets in the match. The Commonwealth XI won the fifth match against India by 77 runs thanks to Worrell, who scored 116 and 71 not out, and Ramadhin, who took nine wickets in the match. The other three matches against India were drawn as was the international in Colombo against Ceylon. Worrell played a magnificent innings of 285 but Ceylon managed to hold on for a draw with their last pair together when time ran out. Ramadhin took eight wickets in the match.

References

External links

CricketArchive
1951 in Ceylon 1950 in Indian cricket 1951 in Indian cricket Indian cricket seasons from 1945–46 to 1969–70 International cricket competitions from 1945–46 to 1960 Sri Lankan cricket seasons from 1880–81 to 1971–72 Multi-national cricket tours of India Multi-national cricket tours of Sri Lanka {{India-cricket-tour-stub