West Indian cricket team

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Early tours

There were a number of early tours played by West Indies sides, which at in those days were dominated by the white ruling classes. The first international cricket played in the West Indies was between local sides and English tourists. The Middlesex player Slade Lucas toured Jamaica with a team in 1894–95, and two years later Arthur Priestley took a team to Barbados, Trinidad, and Jamaica. The matches included one against a side styled "All West Indies", which the West Indians won. Lord Hawke's English team, including several English Test players, toured around the same time, playing Trinidad, Barbados and British Guiana (now Guyana). In 1900 Aucher Warner, the brother of future England captain Pelham Warner, led a touring side to England, but none of these matches were given first-class status. Then the Hampshire wicketkeeper Richard Bennett's XI went to the West Indies in 1901–2 playing three games against "West Indies", which the hosts won 2–1. In 1904–5 Lord Brackley's XI toured – winning both its games against "West Indies".

Related Topics:
Middlesex - Slade Lucas - 1894 - 95 - Arthur Priestley - Lord Hawke - Test - 1900 - Aucher Warner - Pelham Warner - First-class - Hampshire - Wicketkeeper - Richard Bennett - 1901 - 2 - 1904 - 5 - Lord Brackley

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The tours to England continued in 1906 when Harold Austin led a West Indian side to England, playing a number of county teams, and drew their game against an "England XI". However, that England XI only included one contemporary Test player – wicketkeeper Dick Lilley – and he had not been on England's most recent tour, their 1905–6 tour of South Africa. The Marylebone Cricket Club, which had taken over responsibility for arranging all official overseas England tours, visited Jamaica in 1910–11, but after that there was no international cricket of any note until the West Indian team went to England in 1923. This tour did not include a game against an England team, but there was an end-of-season game against HDG Leveson-Gower's XI against a virtual England Test side at the Scarborough cricket festival, a traditional end-of-season game against a touring side at the English seaside resort of Scarborough, which Leveson-Gower's XI won by only four wickets. 1925–26 saw another short MCC tour of Jamaica.

Related Topics:
1906 - Harold Austin - England - County teams - Wicketkeeper - Dick Lilley - 1905–6 tour of South Africa - Marylebone Cricket Club - 1910 - 11 - 1923 - HDG Leveson-Gower's - Scarborough - 1925 - 26

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On 31 May 1926 the West Indian Cricket Board, along with their New Zealand and Indian counterparts, was elected to the Imperial Cricket Conference (now the International Cricket Council). This meant they joined England, Australia and South Africa as teams that could play official Test matches, which is the designation given to the most important international games, and they became the fourth team actually to play a recognised Test match on 23 June 1928 when they took on England at Lord's in London. The West Indies lost all three 3-day Tests in that 1928 tour by a long way, failing to score 250 runs in any of their six innings in that series. They also failed to dismiss England for under 350 runs in a series completely dominated by England.

Related Topics:
31 May - 1926 - New Zealand - Indian - International Cricket Council - England - Australia - South Africa - 23 June - 1928 - Lord's - London - 1928 tour - Innings

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