The Indian cricket team toured England in the 1971 season and played
19 first-class fixtures, winning 7, losing only one and drawing 11.
India played three Test matches and surprisingly won the series
against England 1–0 with two Tests drawn. This was India's first ever
series win in England. The First Test at Lord's and the Second Test at
Old Trafford were drawn. India pulled off a historic win in the Third
Test at The Oval by 4 wickets after being 71 behind on first innings.
They bowled England out for only 101 in the second innings with
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar claiming 6–38.
The Indian team was captained by Ajit Wadekar. Besides Wadekar and
Chandrasekhar, the team included other notable players in Dilip
Sardesai, Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Gundappa Viswanath,
Bishan Singh Bedi and the young Sunil Gavaskar. Farokh Engineer, who
had a contract with Lancashire was made available for the Tests and a
few other matches.
Background
With South Africa out of Test cricket, England was arguably the best
cricket team in the world at this point of time. Earlier in the
summer, they had fortuitously managed to defeat Pakistan 1–0 but
coming into the series England had gone 24 Tests without defeat. They
were to extend it to a record 26 Test matches before losing the third
Test.
India had not won a Test abroad till 1968 and had had no success in
their previous six Test tours of England. However, under the new
captain Ajit Wadekar, India defeated West Indies in an away series in
early 1971. The victory in that series was built around the batting of
Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Sardesai who scored 774 and 642 runs
respectively. Chandrasekhar had been a controversial omission from the
West Indies series. Chief Selector Vijay Merchant called his inclusion
for the tour of England "a ?calculated gamble"?.
Test Matches
First Test: India v England (22 – 27 July)
22–27 July
Scorecard England
304 (139.3 overs) v India
313 (165.3 overs) Match drawn
Lord's, London
Umpires: DJ Constant (Eng) and CS Elliott (Eng)
JA Snow 73 (132)
BS Bedi 4/70 [39.3] AL Wadekar 85 (182)
N Gifford 4/84 [45.3]
191 (98.5 overs) 145/8 (50 overs)
JH Edrich 62 (169)
S Venkataraghavan 4/52 [30.5] SM Gavaskar 53 (96)
N Gifford 4/43 [19]
You may be too young to remember, but in 1971, during a Test
match, I collided with England fast bowler John Snow and lost my bat.
Snow picked it up and handed it to me. But at the time, many papers
wrote that Snow had flung the bat at me. It all depends on your point
of view, or what you are trying to portray....[1] - Sunil Gavaskar
Picture
The England fast bowler John Snow rescued the England first innings
when he came in at 183/7 and made 73 to hoist the total up to 304.
This was Snow's highest Test and equal highest First Class score, but
he was disappointed not to realise his boyhood dream of a century at
Lords when he was caught off a Chandrasekhar googly.[2] India needed
183 to win in the fourth innings when Snow had the opener Ashok Mankad
caught by Knott for 8 and India were 21–2 when Sunil Gavaskar was
called for a quick single after hitting the ball to mid-wicket. Snow
went for the ball and knocked him over, "I could imagine the horror on
the faces of everybody watching the game from the committee room at
Lord's".[3] The were both uninjured, got up and continued with the
game after and Snow tossed Gavaskar's bat back to him. A similar
incident had happened in Georgetown in 1967–68 with Clive Lloyd, but
the 5'4" Indian received far more sympathy than the 6'4" West Indian
who nearly trampled Snow into the ground.[4] From afar the incident
had looked much worse and was replayed repeated on slow-motion
television with a media furore and press demanding disciplinary
action. The replay can be seen in the Indian episode of the BBC
documentary Empire of Cricket and it certainly appears that Snow
recklessly barged into the Gavaskar as he knocked him over. Many were
more angry about the throwing of the bat back than the knocking him
over in the first place. At lunch Snow returned to the dressing room
he apologised to the chairman of selectors Alec Bedser and promised to
do so to Gavaskar when an enraged Mike Griffith charged in and shouted
"That's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen on the field".
Illingworth took him out and Snow waited until he had calmed down
before apologising to Gavaskar on the field after lunch. When he later
saw the replay he said "Oh well, the scene's been far too quiet
without me anyway".[5] and realised he could not avoid being dropped
for the Second Test. The game was rained off with India needed 38
runs, but with England wanting only two wickets.
Second Test: India v England (5 – 10 August)
5–10 August
Scorecard England
386 (160.4 overs) v India
212 (93 overs) Match drawn
Old Trafford, Manchester
Umpires: AE Fagg (Eng) and TW Spencer (Eng)
R Illingworth 107 (298)
S Abid Ali 4/64 [32.4] SM Gavaskar 57 (129)
P Lever 5/70 [26]
245/3d (66 overs) 65/3 (27 overs)
BW Luckhurst 101 (173)
BS Bedi 1/21 [5] SM Gavaskar 24 (42)
JSE Price 2/30 [10]
Third Test: India v England (19–24 August)
19–24 August
Scorecard England
355 (108.4 overs) v India
284 (117.3 overs) India won by 4 wickets
Kennington Oval, London
Umpires: CS Elliott (Eng) and AEG Rhodes (Eng)
APE Knott 90 (116)
ED Solkar 3/28 [15] FM Engineer 59 (111)
R Illingworth 5/70 [34.3]
101 (45.1 overs) 174/6 (101 overs)
BW Luckhurst 33 (111)
BS Chandrasekhar 6/38 [18.1] AL Wadekar 45 (118)
DL Underwood 3/72 [38]
Snow returned for the Third Test and tore off Gavaskar's chain and
medallion with a bouncer that zipped under his chin and made him fall
over.[6] He bowled the Indian for 6 in the first innings and had him
lbw for a duck in the second, but this was not enough to prevent India
winning the Test and the series by four wickets. It was only the
second Test defeat Snow had seen since he had become and England
regular in 1966 and ended England's run of 27 Test without loss.
19 first-class fixtures, winning 7, losing only one and drawing 11.
India played three Test matches and surprisingly won the series
against England 1–0 with two Tests drawn. This was India's first ever
series win in England. The First Test at Lord's and the Second Test at
Old Trafford were drawn. India pulled off a historic win in the Third
Test at The Oval by 4 wickets after being 71 behind on first innings.
They bowled England out for only 101 in the second innings with
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar claiming 6–38.
The Indian team was captained by Ajit Wadekar. Besides Wadekar and
Chandrasekhar, the team included other notable players in Dilip
Sardesai, Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Gundappa Viswanath,
Bishan Singh Bedi and the young Sunil Gavaskar. Farokh Engineer, who
had a contract with Lancashire was made available for the Tests and a
few other matches.
Background
With South Africa out of Test cricket, England was arguably the best
cricket team in the world at this point of time. Earlier in the
summer, they had fortuitously managed to defeat Pakistan 1–0 but
coming into the series England had gone 24 Tests without defeat. They
were to extend it to a record 26 Test matches before losing the third
Test.
India had not won a Test abroad till 1968 and had had no success in
their previous six Test tours of England. However, under the new
captain Ajit Wadekar, India defeated West Indies in an away series in
early 1971. The victory in that series was built around the batting of
Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Sardesai who scored 774 and 642 runs
respectively. Chandrasekhar had been a controversial omission from the
West Indies series. Chief Selector Vijay Merchant called his inclusion
for the tour of England "a ?calculated gamble"?.
Test Matches
First Test: India v England (22 – 27 July)
22–27 July
Scorecard England
304 (139.3 overs) v India
313 (165.3 overs) Match drawn
Lord's, London
Umpires: DJ Constant (Eng) and CS Elliott (Eng)
JA Snow 73 (132)
BS Bedi 4/70 [39.3] AL Wadekar 85 (182)
N Gifford 4/84 [45.3]
191 (98.5 overs) 145/8 (50 overs)
JH Edrich 62 (169)
S Venkataraghavan 4/52 [30.5] SM Gavaskar 53 (96)
N Gifford 4/43 [19]
You may be too young to remember, but in 1971, during a Test
match, I collided with England fast bowler John Snow and lost my bat.
Snow picked it up and handed it to me. But at the time, many papers
wrote that Snow had flung the bat at me. It all depends on your point
of view, or what you are trying to portray....[1] - Sunil Gavaskar
Picture
The England fast bowler John Snow rescued the England first innings
when he came in at 183/7 and made 73 to hoist the total up to 304.
This was Snow's highest Test and equal highest First Class score, but
he was disappointed not to realise his boyhood dream of a century at
Lords when he was caught off a Chandrasekhar googly.[2] India needed
183 to win in the fourth innings when Snow had the opener Ashok Mankad
caught by Knott for 8 and India were 21–2 when Sunil Gavaskar was
called for a quick single after hitting the ball to mid-wicket. Snow
went for the ball and knocked him over, "I could imagine the horror on
the faces of everybody watching the game from the committee room at
Lord's".[3] The were both uninjured, got up and continued with the
game after and Snow tossed Gavaskar's bat back to him. A similar
incident had happened in Georgetown in 1967–68 with Clive Lloyd, but
the 5'4" Indian received far more sympathy than the 6'4" West Indian
who nearly trampled Snow into the ground.[4] From afar the incident
had looked much worse and was replayed repeated on slow-motion
television with a media furore and press demanding disciplinary
action. The replay can be seen in the Indian episode of the BBC
documentary Empire of Cricket and it certainly appears that Snow
recklessly barged into the Gavaskar as he knocked him over. Many were
more angry about the throwing of the bat back than the knocking him
over in the first place. At lunch Snow returned to the dressing room
he apologised to the chairman of selectors Alec Bedser and promised to
do so to Gavaskar when an enraged Mike Griffith charged in and shouted
"That's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen on the field".
Illingworth took him out and Snow waited until he had calmed down
before apologising to Gavaskar on the field after lunch. When he later
saw the replay he said "Oh well, the scene's been far too quiet
without me anyway".[5] and realised he could not avoid being dropped
for the Second Test. The game was rained off with India needed 38
runs, but with England wanting only two wickets.
Second Test: India v England (5 – 10 August)
5–10 August
Scorecard England
386 (160.4 overs) v India
212 (93 overs) Match drawn
Old Trafford, Manchester
Umpires: AE Fagg (Eng) and TW Spencer (Eng)
R Illingworth 107 (298)
S Abid Ali 4/64 [32.4] SM Gavaskar 57 (129)
P Lever 5/70 [26]
245/3d (66 overs) 65/3 (27 overs)
BW Luckhurst 101 (173)
BS Bedi 1/21 [5] SM Gavaskar 24 (42)
JSE Price 2/30 [10]
Third Test: India v England (19–24 August)
19–24 August
Scorecard England
355 (108.4 overs) v India
284 (117.3 overs) India won by 4 wickets
Kennington Oval, London
Umpires: CS Elliott (Eng) and AEG Rhodes (Eng)
APE Knott 90 (116)
ED Solkar 3/28 [15] FM Engineer 59 (111)
R Illingworth 5/70 [34.3]
101 (45.1 overs) 174/6 (101 overs)
BW Luckhurst 33 (111)
BS Chandrasekhar 6/38 [18.1] AL Wadekar 45 (118)
DL Underwood 3/72 [38]
Snow returned for the Third Test and tore off Gavaskar's chain and
medallion with a bouncer that zipped under his chin and made him fall
over.[6] He bowled the Indian for 6 in the first innings and had him
lbw for a duck in the second, but this was not enough to prevent India
winning the Test and the series by four wickets. It was only the
second Test defeat Snow had seen since he had become and England
regular in 1966 and ended England's run of 27 Test without loss.
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