English cricket team in New Zealand in 1929–30


The England national cricket team toured Ceylon, Australia and New Zealand in the 1929–30 season to play a Test series against the New Zealand national cricket team. This was the first Test series ever played by New Zealand. England began the tour in October 1929 in Ceylon with a single minor match and then in Australia where they played five first-class matches. The New Zealand leg of the tour began in December and, in addition to the Test series, England played each of the main provincial teams: Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago. England, captained by Harold Gilligan, won the Test series 1–0 with three matches drawn.
At the same time another English team, captained by Freddie Calthorpe, was touring the West Indies, playing the first Test series there. It was the only time one country has played in two Test matches on the same day.

The English team

Apart from Woolley, who had played 55 Tests before the tour, it was an inexperienced side at Test level. Bowley had played two Tests, and Barratt, Dawson, Duleepsinhji and Legge one each; the other eight had not played a Test.
The team was selected in late June, with Arthur Gilligan, who had played 11 Tests, as captain. However, he was unable to tour owing to illness, and his younger brother Harold was selected to replace him. The other change to the original selected team was that Maurice Allom replaced Frank Watson.

Test Matches

First Test

Second Test

Third Test

Fourth Test