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 Australia in the 1967-68 season. They played four first-class matches and three other matches between 17 November and 12 December 1967. It was New Zealand's first dedicated tour to Australia since 1925-26.''

Wisden ''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 ...

'' 1969, pp. 859–63. However, no Test matches were played.

The team

Barry Sinclair Barry Whitley Sinclair (23 October 1936 – 10 July 2022) was a New Zealand cricketer. He played 21 Test matches for New Zealand national team as a specialist batsman from 1962–63 to 1967–68, and captained the team from 1966 to 1968. ...

(captain) *

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) ...

(vice-captain) * Jack Alabaster * Mark Burgess * Richard Collinge * Bevan Congdon * Roy Harford *

Terry Jarvis Terrence Wayne Jarvis (born 29 July 1944) is a New Zealand businessman and former cricketer who played 13 Test matches for New Zealand between 1965 and 1973. With Glenn Turner, Jarvis holds the opening Test partnership record for New Zealand of ...

* Dick Motz * Bruce Murray * Bruce Taylor * Keith Thomson *

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 h ...

The manager was Joe Ongley. Bob Cunis had to withdraw from the selected team before the tour owing to a knee injury and was replaced by Collinge.

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 ...

was unavailable. Don Neely & Richard Payne, ''Men in White: The History of New Zealand International Cricket, 1894–1985'', Moa, Auckland, 1986, pp. 373–377. Burgess, Harford, Murray and Thomson were the only players who had not played Test cricket. All four made their Test debuts in the series against India in New Zealand a few weeks later.

The tour

As three of the team – Murray, Pollard and Yuile – were opposed to Sunday play, the tour schedule was rearranged slightly to avoid Sundays; the Queensland match was reduced from four days to three. The first match was against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. At the end of the third day, the New Zealanders, needing 188 to win, were 67 for 6, with Dick Motz 12 not out. On the last day Motz hit his way to 94, with 10 fours and six sixes, but the New Zealanders still fell for 163, 25 runs short, Eric Freeman taking 8 for 47. The second match, against

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, was drawn, Mark Burgess scoring 98 not out in the first innings, and

Paul Sheahan Andrew Paul Sheahan (born 30 September 1946) is a former Australian international cricketer who played 31 Test matches and three One Day Internationals as an opening and middle order batsman between 1967 and 1973. He made his first-class deb ...

making 161 for Victoria. In the easy victory over a Victorian Country side that followed, Motz hit 76 in 46 minutes, taking four sixes and three fours from one over. The next match, against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, was drawn. The New Zealanders were in a strong position when rain washed out play on the last day: after declaring and setting Queensland 353 to win, they had taken two wickets for 44. In the first innings Pollard scored the New Zealanders' only century of the tour, 125 in four hours; Murray made 98.

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

won the last match by 131 runs, led by the speed and swing of David Renneberg and Grahame Corling, who each took eight wickets in the match. Murray, the opening batsman, made 45 and 60. Murray was the leading run-scorer, with 351 runs at an average of 43.87. Taylor took the most wickets, 13 at 25.00.

References

External links

New Zealand in Australia, 1967-68
at Cricinfo
New Zealand in Australia 1967-68
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:New Zealand cricket team in Australia in 1967-68 1967 in New Zealand cricket 1967 in Australian cricket 1967-68 Australian cricket seasons from 1945–46 to 1969–70