Indian cricket team in England in 1952

The Indian team meets Queen Elizabeth II at Lord's Cricket Ground, 23 June 1952

The Indian cricket team toured England in the 1952 season. This was an inexperienced squad, with eight uncapped cricketers. In fact, none of the touring men had played 10 test matches.^[1] The team played four Test matches, losing three of them and drawing the other one. In all first-class matches, they played 29, winning four and losing five, with the rest drawn. At the first Test in Headingley, India lost four wickets for no runs at the start of their second innings.^[2]

This was the first tour of India to England after Independence from United Kingdom

The Indian team

There were 17 players in the original touring team, and Vinoo Mankad was co-opted from the Lancashire League team Haslingden for three of the four Test matches. The side was captained by Vijay Hazare.

The Test matches

First Test

India (293 and 165) lost to England (334 and 128 for three) by seven wickets – scorecard

5–9 June 1952 Scorecard

India	v	England
293 (126.3 overs) Vijay Manjrekar 133 Jim Laker 4/39 (22.3 overs)		334 (165.2 overs) Tom Graveney 71 Ghulam Ahmed 5/100 (63 overs)
165 (67 overs) Dattu Phadkar 64 Fred Trueman 4/27 (9 overs)		128/3 (55 overs) Reg Simpson 51 Ghulam Ahmed 2/37 (22 overs)

England won by 7 wickets Headingley, Leeds Umpires: Herbert Baldwin and Harry Elliott

• India won the toss and decided to bat.
• 5-day match
• Fred Trueman (Eng), Datta Gaekwad and Gulabrai Ramchand (Ind) made their Test debuts.
• 8 June was a rest day.

Second Test

19–24 June 1952 scorecard

India	v	England
235 (94.3 overs) Vinoo Mankad 72 Fred Trueman 4/72 (25 overs)		537 (206.4 overs) Len Hutton 150 Vinoo Mankad 5/196 (73 overs)
378 (122 overs) Vinoo Mankad 184 Jim Laker 4/102 (39 overs)		79/2 (49.2 overs) Len Hutton 39 Ghulam Ahmed 1/31 (23.2 overs)

England won by 8 wickets Lord's Cricket Ground Umpires: Frank Chester, Frank Lee

• India won the toss and decided to bat.
• 5-day match
• 22 June was a rest day.

Third Test

17–19 July 1952 scorecard

England	v	India
347/9 (d) (144 overs) Len Hutton 104 Ghulam Ahmed 3/43 (9 overs)		58 (21.4 overs) Vijay Manjrekar 22 Fred Trueman 8/31 (8.4 overs)
		82 (36.3 overs) Hemu Adhikari 27 Alec Bedser 5/27 (15 overs)

England won by an innings and 207 runs Old Trafford, Manchester Umpires: Dai Davies and Frank Lee

• England won the toss and decided to bat.
• Tony Lock (Eng) made his Test debut.

Fourth Test

14–19 August 1952 scorecard

England	v	India
326/6 (d) (154 overs) David Sheppard 119 Vinoo Mankad 2/88 (48 overs)		98 (38.5 overs) Vijay Hazare 38 Alec Bedser 5/41 (14.5 overs)

Match drawn Kennington Oval, Kennington Umpires: Frank Chester and Harry Elliott

• England won the toss and decided to bat.
• 17 August was a rest day.

India were at 49/5 at the end of second day. The third day was washed out. On fourth day, only 65 minutes were played, during which India were all out for 98, third consecutive innings that they failed to reach 100. Hutton asked them to follow-on. But no further play was possible that day, and the fifth and last day was also completely washed out.

References

Annual reviews

• Playfair Cricket Annual 1953
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1953

Further reading

• Ramachandra Guha, A Corner of a Foreign Field - An Indian History of a British Sport, Picador, 2001

External links

• CricketArchive
• Cricket History - India Tour Of England 1952 at Cricketnmore