India in Great Britain, 1946 (cricket)

The India national cricket team toured England in the 1946 season and played 29 first-class fixtures with 11 wins, 4 defeats and 14 draws. The 1946 season marked a return to normal first-class cricket in England following the end of World War II. The Test series between England and India was the first to be played in England since 1939.

In its review of the 1946 season, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack remarked that "the Indians were the first postwar touring side, and although they were outplayed in the Tests they raised the status and the dignity of their country's sport". Wisden also mentioned that "the weather in 1946 might have been dreadful, but it didn't stop the crowds flocking to games".

The state of the weather was mentioned by John Arlott who wrote his first match report for The Guardian when the Indians played Worcestershire at New Road, Worcester on 4, 6 and 7 May. Arlott wrote that "New Road was bleak that Saturday morning... dark under the cloud, it was swept by a bitter gale howling across from Diglis".

Test series summary

England and India played three Tests between June and August. England won the series 1–0 with two matches drawn:

• First Test at Lord's: England won by 10 wickets
• Second Test at Old Trafford: match drawn
• Third Test at The Oval: match drawn

Indian squad

India used a 16-man squad captained by Iftikhar Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi, who was one of the few players to represent two countries in Test cricket, having played for England during the 1930s.

Squad details below state the player's age at the beginning of the tour, his batting hand, his type of bowling, and his Ranji Trophy team at the time:

Batsmen

• Nawab of Pataudi, 36, right-handed batsman (RHB), unattached
• Vijay Hazare, 31, RHB, right-arm medium pace (RM), Baroda
• Vijay Merchant, 34, RHB, RM, Bombay
• Rusi Modi, 21, RHB, RM, Bombay
• Syed Mushtaq Ali, 31, RHB, slow left-arm orthodox spin (SLA), Holkar

Bowlers

• Shute Banerjee, 34, RHB, right-arm fast medium pace (RFM), Bihar
• C S Nayudu, 32, RHB, leg-break and googly (LBG), Holkar
• Sadu Shinde, 22, RHB, LBG, Maharashtra
• Ranga Sohoni, 28, RHB, RFM and off-break (OB), Maharashtra

All-rounders

• Abdul Hafeez, 21, left-handed batsman (LHB), SLA, unattached
• Lala Amarnath, 34, RHB, RM, unattached
• Gul Mohammad, 24, LHB, left-arm medium pace (LM), Baroda
• Vinoo Mankad, 29, RHB, SLA, Gujarat
• Chandra Sarwate, 25, RHB, OB, Holkar

Wicket-keepers

• Dattaram Hindlekar, 37, RHB, wicket-keeper (WK), Bombay
• Raosaheb Nimbalkar, 30, RHB, WK, Baroda

The team relied heavily on all-rounders and some of those listed above as batsmen or bowlers had all-round ability. All except Banerjee and Nimbalkar played in the Test series. The team was largely inexperienced at international level as only six players had made their Test debuts before the Second World War: Pataudi, Amarnath, Hindlekar, Merchant, Mushtaq Ali and Nayudu. In the First Test, which India lost heavily, the team had six debutants: Abdul Hafeez, Gul Mohammad, Hazare, Mankad, Modi and Shinde.

England selections

Test trials

England staged two Test trials, the first in June a week before the First Test and the second in July a week before the Second Test. It was seven years since England had last played a Test match and there was a winter tour of Australia to come so the selectors wanted to look at a large number of players to try and quickly establish the best possible team.

A total of 35 players were used in the two Test trials and, in the end, England used 19 players in the three Test matches, with as many as 10 making only a single appearance. The mainstays of the team who each played in all three Tests were captain Wally Hammond, opening batsmen Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook, middle order batsman Denis Compton and opening pace bowler Alec Bedser.

First Test

For the First Test at Lord's, England had only three debutants compared with India's six. Bedser and batting all-rounder Jack Ikin were the only "new" players in that they had made two and five first-class appearances respectively before the war and each of them was now in his first full season. The third debutant was veteran seam bowler Frank Smailes who had been playing regularly for Yorkshire since 1932. England's other four players in this match were also experienced pre-war players: batsman Joe Hardstaff junior, wicket-keeper Paul Gibb, leg spinner Doug Wright and pace bowler Bill Bowes.

England won the First Test by a convincing ten wicket margin after Bedser took 11 wickets on debut and Hardstaff scored 205*.

Second Test

Team changes were made for the Second Test in view of the need to try out several players ahead of the winter tour of Australia. Pace bowler Dick Pollard was introduced, making his Test debut in place of Smailes. Like Smailes, Pollard was an experienced player active since 1933. Veteran pace bowler Bill Voce was recalled in place of his former bodyline series colleague Bowes.

The Second Test was drawn but it had a tense climax as India's last wicket pair Sohoni and Hindlekar held on for the final 13 minutes of play to secure the draw with England 125 runs ahead. Bedser again took 11 wickets and Pollard weighed in with 7. Compton, with two half centuries, was the top scorer.

Third Test

England made six changes for the Third Test, which was drawn after being ruined by rain. Batsmen Laurie Fishlock, Bill Edrich and James Langridge were recalled along with fast bowler Alf Gover. There were two debutants: wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans and veteran spinner Peter Smith. They replaced Ikin, Hardstaff, Gibb, Voce, Pollard and Wright.

Matches

Opening fixture

The tour opened at New Road, Worcester on 4, 6 and 7 May where India played Worcestershire in bleak and windy conditions. This was a close-fought match with Worcestershire batting first, having been put in by Pataudi, and scoring 191 in their first innings. Captain Alexander Singleton top-scored with 47 and Vinoo Mankad took 4–26. India replied with 192, Modi scoring 34 and Reg Perks taking 5–53. Worcestershire made 284 in the second innings with future England player Dick Howorth scoring 105 while Shinde took 5–50. Needing the same total to win, India did not quite make it and were dismissed for 267, giving the county a 16-run victory. Howorth, bowling the kind of slow left-arm orthodox spin that is more usually associated with Indian bowlers, took 4–59 to complement his century while Modi was again the best Indian batsman with 84.

Matches before the First Test

Including the match at Worcester, India played 10 first-class matches prior to the First Test at Lord's, starting on 22 June. Their other opponents were:

• Oxford University at The Parks, Oxford – match drawn
• Surrey at The Oval – won by 9 wickets
• Cambridge University at Fenner's, Cambridge – won by an innings and 19 runs
• Leicestershire at Grace Road, Leicester – match drawn
• Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord's Cricket Ground – won by an innings and 194 runs
• Hampshire at County Ground, Southampton – won by 6 wickets
• Glamorgan at Cardiff Arms Park – match drawn
• Combined Services at United Services Recreation Ground, Portsmouth – match drawn
• Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, Nottingham – match drawn

So, apart from losing the opener by a narrow margin, the Indians were successful in the run-up to the First Test, their relatively easy win over Surrey being perhaps their best performance.