The

New Zealand cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...

toured England in the 1969 season to play a three-match

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

series against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The New Zealanders played in the second half of the English season: the England cricket team played three Test matches against the

West Indies cricket team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West I ...

in the earlier part of the season, winning that series by 2–0 with one match drawn - see the article

West Indian cricket team in England in 1969 The West Indies cricket team toured England in the 1969 season to play a three-match Test series against England. England won the series 2–0 with one match drawn. After this, England would not win another test series against the West Indies for ...

. England won the series against the New Zealanders also by 2–0 with one match drawn. On the tour as a whole, the New Zealanders played 18 first-class matches, including the Tests, and won four of them, with three defeats. All the other matches were drawn. After this tour the New Zealanders continued touring, playing test series

in India IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independ ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

till mid November 1969.

The New Zealand Team

The New Zealand team was captained by

Graham Dowling Graham Thorne Dowling (born 4 March 1937) is a former New Zealand cricketer who played 39 Test matches and captained New Zealand in 19 of them. He led New Zealand to its first victory in a Test series, against Pakistan in November 1969. He wa ...

, with

Vic Pollard Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense): ...

as vice-captain. The full team was: *

(captain) *

(vice-captain) * Mark Burgess *

Richard Collinge Richard Owen Collinge (born 2 April 1946) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played 35 Tests and 15 ODIs. He was New Zealand Cricket Almanack Player of the Year in 1971. Domestic career He played domestic cricket for three different sides. ...

Bevan Congdon Bevan Ernest Congdon (11 February 1938 – 10 February 2018) was a New Zealand cricket all-rounder who played 61 Test matches and 11 One Day Internationals from 1965 to 1978, which included a spell as captain. Captaincy He was captain of the ...

Bob Cunis Robert Smith Cunis (5 January 1941 – 9 August 2008) played 20 Test matches for New Zealand as a pace bowler between 1964 and 1972, and was later coach of the New Zealand national team from 1987 to 1990. His son Stephen played cricket for Can ...

Dayle Hadlee Dayle Robert Hadlee (born 6 January 1948) is a New Zealand former cricketer who played in 26 Tests and 11 ODIs from 1969 to 1978. He is the son of Walter Hadlee, the older brother of Sir Richard Hadlee and the younger brother of Barry Hadlee. ...

Brian Hastings Brian Frederick Hastings (born 23 March 1940) is a former New Zealand cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played 31 Test matches between 1969 and 1976, scoring four centuries. He played first-class cricket for Wellington, Central Districts an ...

Hedley Howarth Hedley John Howarth (25 December 1943 – 7 November 2008) was an international cricketer who played 30 Tests and nine One Day Internationals for New Zealand. The elder brother of Geoff Howarth, former New Zealand captain, he was born and died i ...

Barry Milburn Barry Douglas Milburn (born 24 November 1943) is a former New Zealand cricketer who played three Test matches for New Zealand in 1969. Cricket career Milburn was born in Dunedin. A wicketkeeper and lower-order right-handed batsman, he played f ...

Dick Motz Richard Charles Motz (12 January 1940 – 29 April 2007) was a New Zealand cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler and hard-hitting lower order batsman, Motz played 32 Test matches for the New Zealand cricket team between 1961 and 1969. He was the ...

* Bruce Murray * Bruce Taylor *

Glenn Turner Glenn Maitland Turner (born 26 May 1947) played cricket for New Zealand and was one of the country's best and most prolific batsmen. He is the current head of the New Zealand Cricket selection panel. Early life Glenn Turner was born in Dune ...

Ken Wadsworth Kenneth John Wadsworth (30 November 1946 – 19 August 1976) was a New Zealand cricketer who played 33 Tests and 13 One Day Internationals for New Zealand as a wicket-keeper. Wadsworth also played for Nelson in the Hawke Cup. Domestic care ...

Bryan Yuile Bryan William Yuile (born 29 October 1941) is a retired cricketer who played 17 Test matches for New Zealand in the 1960s. He played first-class cricket from 1959 to 1972, until his religious objection to playing on Sundays led to the end of hi ...

Seven of the side – Dowling, Pollard, Collinge, Congdon, Motz, Taylor and Yuile – had toured England with the 1965 touring party. Only Hadlee, Howarth and Wadsworth had not played Test cricket before this tour and all three of them made their Test debuts during the tour. Milburn and Yuile, both of whom had played Test cricket before this tour, did not feature in the Test matches this season.

The Test Matches

First Test at
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
, 24–28 July 1969

There was little between the teams after low-scoring first innings in which only

Ray Illingworth Raymond Illingworth CBE (8 June 1932 – 25 December 2021) was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. , he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first-class cricket.Arnold, Peter ...

, England's captain, reached 50. In the second innings

John Edrich John Hugh Edrich, (21 June 1937 – 23 December 2020) was an English first-class cricketer who, during a career that ran from 1956 to 1978, was considered one of the best batsmen of his generation. Born in Blofield, Norfolk, Edrich came from a ...

scored 115 and shared a century opening partnership with

Geoffrey Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

. Apart from Turner, who carried his bat for a dour 43, New Zealand did not cope well with

Derek Underwood Derek Leslie Underwood (born 8 June 1945) is an English former international cricketer, and a former President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Through much of his career, Underwood was regarded as one of the best bowlers in Test cricket ...

's left-arm spin and his 7-32 gave England a comfortable victory.

Second Test at
Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also t ...
, 7–12 August 1969

Almost all of the third and fifth days were lost to the weather, so that New Zealand comfortably saved the game in spite of a big deficit on first innings. For New Zealand, Congdon (66) and Hastings (83) put on 150 for the third wicket, at the time a New Zealand record in England. Edrich (155) and Phil Sharpe (111) responded with a second wicket partnership of 246.

Third Test at
The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
, 21–26 August 1969

Underwood undermined the New Zealand batting, taking six wickets in each innings to finish the series with 24 wickets at an average of 9.16 runs each. Turner made a three-hour 53 in New Zealand's first innings, and Hastings a three-and-a-half-hour 61 in the second, but none of the other batsmen managed more than 30. Edrich made 68 in England's first innings and

Mike Denness Michael Henry Denness (1 December 1940 – 19 April 2013) was a Scottish cricketer who played for England, Scotland, Kent and Essex. Scotland did not have a representative international team at the time of Denness' career, so he could only play ...

in his first Test match took England home on the last afternoon with an unbeaten 55. The match was stretched out to the full five days because of constant showers.

Other First-Class Matches

A total of 15 other first-class matches were played between the end of June and the middle of September. A three-day game with D. H. Robins' XI at

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

in mid-June was not counted as first-class. The New Zealanders recorded victories over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, the

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

and

T. N. Pearce's XI {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 T. N. Pearce's XI was a scratch cricket team composed largely of Test cricket, Test and other prominent first-class cricket, first-class players. Between 1951 and 1974, T. N. Pearce's XI played an annual first-clas ...

. Apart from the defeats in the Test matches, their only other defeat on tour was by

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

by the narrow margin of 15 runs. The 10 other games, all with first-class counties, were drawn.

References

Annual reviews

Playfair Cricket Annual ''Playfair Cricket Annual'' is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to review ...

1970 *

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

1970

External links

CricketArchive – tour itineraries
{{1969 English cricket season 1969 in English cricket 1969 in New Zealand cricket International cricket competitions from 1960–61 to 1970

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

July 1969 sports events in the United Kingdom August 1969 sports events in the United Kingdom