An English team raised by

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) toured Australia in November 1922 and March 1923 on their way to and from a longer tour of New Zealand. After a short stopover in Ceylon, where a single minor match was played, they played four first-class matches against Australian state teams in November, and three on the way back from New Zealand in March.

The team

The fourteen players, with their ages at the start of the tour in November 1922, were: *

Archie MacLaren Archibald Campbell MacLaren (1 December 1871 – 17 November 1944) was an English cricketer who captained the England cricket team at various times between 1898 and 1909. A right-handed batsman, he played 35 Test matches for England, as ...

(captain, 50) * John Hartley (vice-captain, 47) *

David Brand Sir David Brand KCMG (1 August 1912 – 15 April 1979) was an Australian politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1945 to 1975, and also the 19th and longest-serving Prem ...

(20) * Freddie Calthorpe (30) *

Percy Chapman Arthur Percy Frank Chapman (3 September 1900 – 16 September 1961) was an English cricketer who captained the England cricket team between 1926 and 1931. A left-handed batsman, he played 26 Test matches for England, captaining the side in 17 ...

(22) *

Tich Freeman Alfred Percy "Tich" Freeman (17 May 1888 – 28 January 1965) was an English first-class cricketer. A leg spin bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and England, he is the only man to take 300 wickets in an English season, and is the second most p ...

(34) * Clement Gibson (22) * Wilfred Hill-Wood (21) *

Tom Lowry Thomas Coleman Lowry (17 February 1898 – 20 July 1976) was a New Zealand Test cricketer. He captained the New Zealand team in its first seven Test matches, in 1930 and 1931. Lowry family Lowry's father, Thomas Henry Lowry, a graduate of ...

(24) * John MacLean (21) * Charles Titchmarsh (41) * Harry Tyldesley (29) * Alexander Wilkinson (29) * Geoffrey Wilson (27)

Robert St Leger Fowler Captain Robert St Leger Fowler MC (7 April 1891 – 13 June 1925) was an Irish first-class cricketer, often regarded as the best Irish cricketer not to have represented Ireland itself. Fowler was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm o ...

was invited but was unable to tour and was replaced by Brand. The manager was Henry Swan, who also played in the match against

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Freeman and Tyldesley were the only professionals. Maclaren and Hartley had played

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

for

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 ...

before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Calthorpe and Chapman went on to captain England, Lowry to be the first Test captain of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and Freeman also played Tests for England. The doctor and former Australian Test player Roland Pope accompanied the team throughout Australia and New Zealand at his own expense, serving as honorary physician.

Leading players

Chapman was the leading scorer in the entire Australian first-class season. He played in all seven matches and scored 782 runs at an average of 65.16. Of the other main MCC batsmen, Wilson scored 417 runs at 41.70, Titchmarsh 337 at 30.63, Calthorpe 316 at 28.72 and Hill-Wood 304 at 33.77. Chapman hit two centuries, and Hill-Wood, Calthorpe and Wilson one each. Freeman was the leading wicket-taker for MCC, with 30 at an average of 32.96. Gibson took 21 at 43.47, and the only other bowler to take at least 10 was Tyldesley, with 12 at 26.58.

References

External links

MCC in Australia and New Zealand 1922-23
at CricketArchive 1922 in Australian cricket 1923 in Australian cricket 1922 in English cricket 1923 in English cricket 1922 in Ceylon Australian cricket seasons from 1918–19 to 1944–45 Sri Lankan cricket seasons from 1880–81 to 1971–72 English cricket tours of Australia English cricket tours of Sri Lanka International cricket competitions from 1918–19 to 1945 Australia 1922–23 {{Australia-cricket-tour-stub