The

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

toured Australia in the 1951–52 season and played five Test matches against Australia. The series was billed as the "World Championship of cricket", with both teams having beaten

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 ...

in the previous 18 months. In the event, the series was a disappointment with Australia winning fairly easily by four matches to one. After the Australian leg of the tour, the West Indies team moved on to New Zealand where the first Test matches between

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 West Indies were played. See this article for further details.

The West Indies touring team

The West Indies team was captained by

John Goddard John Goddard may refer to: * John Goddard (engraver) (fl. 1645–1671), engraver *John Goddard (cricketer) (1919–1987), West Indian cricketer *Johnathan Goddard (1981–2008), American football player *John Goddard (adventurer) John Goddard (Ju ...

, who had led the side to series victories over

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 England. The full side was: *

, captain *

Jeff Stollmeyer Jeffrey Baxter Stollmeyer (11 March 1921 – 10 September 1989) was a Trinidad and Tobago cricketer who played as an opening batsman. He played 32 Test matches for the West Indies, captaining 13 of these. He was also a senator. Cricket caree ...

, vice-captain *

Denis Atkinson Denis St Eval Atkinson (9 August 1926 – 9 November 2001) was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches as an all-rounder, hitting 922 runs and taking 47 wickets. He also played first-class cricket for Barbados and Trinidad. Atkinso ...

Robert Christiani Robert Julian Christiani (19 July 1920 – 4 January 2005) was a West Indian cricketer who played in 22 Tests from 1947–48 to 1953–54. At domestic level he played first-class cricket for British Guiana. Christiani played his first Test in ...

* Wilfred Ferguson *

Gerry Gomez Gerry Ethridge Gomez (10 October 1919 – 6 August 1996) was a cricketer who played 29 Test matches for the West Indies cricket team between 1939 and 1954, scoring 1,243 runs and taking 58 wickets. He captained in one match for the West Indies ...

Sammy Guillen Simpson Clairmonte "Sammy" Guillen (24 September 1924 – 1 March 2013) was one of the few men to have played Test cricket for two countries. He played five Test matches for the West Indies and three for New Zealand in the 1950s, including New ...

Prior Jones Prior Erskine Waverley Jones (6 June 1917 – 21 November 1991) was a West Indian cricketer who played in nine Test matches from 1947–48 to 1951–52. A fast bowler, Jones played first-class cricket for Trinidad from 1940–41 to 1950–51. ...

Roy Marshall Roy Edwin Marshall (25 April 1930 – 27 October 1992) was a West Indian cricketer who played in four Tests from 1951 to 1952. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1959. Early career The son of a wealthy plantation owner, Marshall was bo ...

* Allan Rae * Sonny Ramadhin *

Ken Rickards Kenneth Roy Rickards (22 August 1923 – 21 August 1995) was a West Indian international cricketer who played in two Test matches from 1948 to 1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn ...

* John Trim *

Alf Valentine Alfred Louis Valentine (28 April 1930 – 11 May 2004) was a West Indian cricketer in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the ''Victory Calypso''. The 19 ...

Clyde Walcott Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott KA, GCM, OBE (17 January 1926 – 26 August 2006) was a West Indian cricketer. Walcott was a member of the "three W's", the other two being Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell: all were very successful batsmen from Barb ...

Everton Weekes Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE (26 February 19251 July 2020) was a cricketer from Barbados. A right-handed batsman, he was known as one of the hardest hitters in world cricket. Weekes holds the record for consecutive Test hundre ...

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 ...

All of the players except Guillen and Marshall had played Test cricket before the tour, and the two exceptions made their debuts during the Australian leg of the tour.

The Test matches

First Test

West Indies batted uneasily against the speed of

Ray Lindwall Raymond Russell Lindwall (3 October 1921 – 23 June 1996) was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league ...

and

Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller (28 November 1919 – 11 October 2004) was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. His ability, irreverent m ...

, with Goddard, coming in at No 9, top-scoring with 45. The Australians were similarly diffident against Ramadhin and Valentine, but Miller and Lindwall, as batsmen, were more aggressive. Valentine took five for 99 and

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 ...

recorded that five catches were dropped off his bowling in the space of half an hour. Weekes with 70 and Gomez (55) set a target, but

Doug Ring Douglas Thomas Ring (14 October 1918 – 23 June 2003) was an Australian cricketer who played for Victoria and for Australia in 13 Test matches between 1948 and 1953. In 129 first-class cricket matches, he took 426 wickets bowling leg spin, a ...

's leg-breaks took six for 80. After five overs from the West Indies opening bowlers Gomez and Worrell, Goddard relied entirely on Ramadhin and Valentine, and they bowled more than 80 consecutive overs between them. Innings of more than 40 apiece from

Arthur Morris Arthur Robert Morris (19 January 1922 – 22 August 2015) was an Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for ...

Neil Harvey Robert Neil Harvey (born 8 October 1928) is an Australian former cricketer who was a member of the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement. ...

and

Graeme Hole Graeme Blake Hole (6 January 1931 – 14 February 1990) was an Australian cricketer who played 18 Test matches between 1951 and 1955. Career A right-handed middle-order batsman and off-spinner, Hole played 98 first-class matches between 1949� ...

took Australia to a narrow victory, despite Ramadhin's five for 90.

Second Test

West Indies batted consistently, with 50s for Worrell (64), Walcott (60), Christiani (76) and Gomez (54). But after Australia had been reduced to 27 for two wickets,

Lindsay Hassett Arthur Lindsay Hassett (28 August 1913 – 16 June 1993) was an Australian cricketer who played for Victoria and the Australian national team. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by ''Wisden'' as, "... a mas ...

was dropped behind the wicket and he went on to score 132 and to put on 235 with

, who made 129. Lindwall and Ring then led the tail to a total of 517. Short-pitched bowling by Lindwall and Miller accounted for several of the West Indies batsmen in the second innings, and despite 50s for Weekes and Goddard the Australians needed only 136 to win.

Third Test

Rain had seeped under the covers and 22 wickets fell on the first day for 207 runs. Worrell took six for 34 in Australia's first innings, and

Bill Johnston Bill or Billy Johnston may refer to: * Bill Johnston (cricketer) (1922–2007), Australian cricketer * Bill Johnston (golfer) (1925–2021), American golfer and golf course architect * Bill Johnston (tennis) William Marquitz "Little Bill" John ...

took six for 62 when bowling unchanged throughout the West Indies innings. Australia's captain

– Hassett was injured – rejigged the batting order for the second innings. Ian Johnson and

Geff Noblet Geffery Noblet (14 September 1916 – 16 August 2006) was an Australian cricketer who played in three Test matches from 1950 to 1953. Noblet's bowling performance in the 1948–49 Australian domestic season was the best by a South Australian ...

were out before the end of the first day, but in easier conditions Ring made 67 and Morris 45, while Valentine took six for 102. West Indies needed 233 to win and at 141 for four seemed to be wobbling, but dropped catches allowed Christiani and Gomez to see them home.

Fourth Test

An exciting Test began with a century for Worrell, retrieving West Indies from 30 for three with assistance from Gomez and Christiani. Miller took five for 60.

, with 83, and Miller put on 124 for the fourth wicket but the other Australian batsmen failed and Trim took five for 34. West Indies lost wickets regularly, though there were 50s for Stollmeyer and Gomez before a late-order collapse left Australia to get 260. Hassett made 102, but wickets fell to the spin of Ramadhin and Valentine, and at 222 for nine, the match seemed lost. But Ring, with 32, and Johnston made 38 for the last wicket to bring an unlikely victory and win the series.

Fifth Test

First-day humidity helped the swing bowling of Gomez, who took seven for 55, and Worrell (three for 42), but West Indies fared even worse against the bouncers of Lindwall, Johnston and Miller. Australia's dominance was built on painstaking 60s by Colin McDonald, in his first Test match, Hassett, Miller and

, though Gomez completed a

10 wicket haul In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used. Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bowle ...

in the match. Lindwall and Miller kept up a barrage of bouncers against the West Indies and only Stollmeyer, who made 104, lasted long. Lindwall finished with five for 52.

Richie Benaud Richard Benaud (; 6 October 1930 – 10 April 2015) was an Australian cricketer who, after his retirement from international cricket in 1964, became a highly regarded commentator on the game. Benaud was a Test cricket all-rounder, blending l ...

claimed his first Test wicket with the final delivery of the match.

References

External sources

Tour home
at

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:West Indian cricket team in Australia in 1951-52 1951 in Australian cricket 1951 in West Indian cricket 1952 in Australian cricket 1952 in West Indian cricket 1951-52 Australian cricket seasons from 1945–46 to 1969–70 International cricket competitions from 1945–46 to 1960