All the previous England v India matches were played over three days, but when India returned in 1952, it was for four Tests, over five days each. England’s series win was comprehensive, with India only managing a draw in the Oval finale. Vijay Manjrekar made his maiden first-class hundred, 133, at Headingley, but a solid all-round effort by the hosts in reply secured a 41-run lead. India had lost their first five batsmen (including four for ducks, Fred Trueman doing most of the damage on his debut while on leave from the RAF) while they were still in deficit. They did manage to post 165, but England won by seven wickets.
At Lord’s, centuries from Len Hutton, who had been made captain despite being a professional, and Godfrey Evans gave England a 302-run lead on first innings, and although Vinoo Mankad’s 184 made the hosts work hard, he could not prevent an eight-wicket win. On the fourth day the match was attended by Queen Elizabeth II, in the first summer of her reign.
Another Hutton hundred at Old Trafford gave England a good start, before India slumped to a dismal 58 all out, their equal lowest Test total at the time, with Trueman’s hostility proving too great as he took eight for 31. It remains the best analysis in England versus India Tests. The tourists fared little better following on, with Bedser and Tony Lock bowling them out for 82.
In the Test that India saved, at The Oval, the Rev David Sheppard’s 119 – his first Test century and his highest of the three he scored – helped England to 326 for 6 declared. The demoralised Indians slumped to 6 for 5, eventually folding for 98 thanks to five-wicket hauls from Bedser and Trueman, but the weather saved them.
Farokh Engineer batting at The Oval, 1971
1959 – England won 5-0
It took seven years for India to return, and after the series ended in a 5-0 whitewash, they probably wished they had not bothered. Peter May’s 13th and final Test century at Trent Bridge set up an innings win, with Trueman and Brian Statham sharing 13 wickets. England won by eight wickets at Lord’s, and then by an innings at Headingley thanks to Colin Cowdrey’s 160. He stepped in as captain for the injured May at Old Trafford and presided over a 171-run win. Centuries from Geoff Pullar, his first, and on his home ground, and MJK Smith (his first of three in Tests) helped the hosts to a total of 490. India made only 208 in reply but were not made to follow on. Abbas Ali Baig, an Oxford University Freshman, made England work hard for the win, becoming the first Indian player to score a century on Test debut. England won a rubber 5-0 for the first time when they clinched another innings victory at The Oval.
1967 – England won 3-0
Another whitewash followed eight years later, although this time the rubber consisted of only three Tests. The opener will always be recalled as the match in which Geoffrey Boycott scored a double-century on his home ground of Headingley, only to be dropped for the next Test because of slow-scoring. His 246 not out came off 555 balls and took 573 minutes. “It was very tiring keeping to Boycs,” recalled Farokh Engineer. “He got right behind the ball, so as a keeper you really had to move one side or the other.” Basil D’Oliveira also made 109 as England recorded their highest total at the ground – 550 for 4 declared. India managed only 164 first time round, but their 510 in the second innings made England toil. Their captain, Nawab of Pataudi jr, made 148, while Engineer, opening, struck 87, but England completed a six-wicket win.
Tom Graveney made 151 at Lord’s as India folded easily twice to allow the hosts to win by an innings. Engineer laughed when I compared Graveney to Ian Bell. “Bell is not a patch on Graveney,” he rebuked me. Captain Brian Close produced the stand-out all-round display at The Oval, making a first-innings 77 (the highest score of the match) and taking four for 68 as India lost by 132 runs. “India’s batsman were not used to playing on such green wickets,” said Engineer. “That summer was a struggle.”
Ajit Wadekar and teammate Bhagwath Chandraserhar at The Oval, 1971
1971 – India won 1-0
This was India’s first series win and its architects were the three spinners, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Bishan Bedi and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan. Defeat came as a surprise to England captain Ray Illingworth, triumphant after the Ashes win Down Under the winter before. “If it was a hot summer, as this one was,” recalls Engineeer, “then India tended to do much better.”
Lord’s staged an exciting draw in the series opener, India taking a first-innings lead of nine and finishing on 145 for 8, just short of their target of 183 (Engineer making 35), in a rain-affected match. The Test will be recalled for John Snow colliding with Sunil Gavaskar. The fast bowler was ordered to apologise by MCC secretary Billy Griffith but he refused, and was dropped for the next Test – the incident even cost him a place on the next Ashes tour. “A good deal of over-reaction by everyone except Gavaskar,” said Illingworth. “We should have won,” remembered Engineer.
A final-day washout prevented England from pushing hard for victory at Old Trafford. Illingworth’s second and final Test century helped them to a first-innings lead of 174. Brian Luckhurst’s fourth and final Test hundred then helped present the tourists with a target of 420, and they finished the fourth day – and the match – on 65 for 3.
Fred Trueman bowls Subhash Gupte of India at Old Trafford, 1971
It proved especially costly for the hosts when India triumphed at the Oval for their first series win in England. England looked handily placed when they bowled India out for 284, Illingworth taking 5 for 70, to establish a first-innings lead of 71. Engineer scored 59 with (strangely for him) no fours.
England then crumpled to 101 all out, however, with leg-spinner Chandrasekhar taking 6 for 38, before knocking off the runs for the loss of six wickets, albeit slowly against the miserly Illingworth and Derek Underwood. Engineer saw them home with an unbeaten 28 (this time with three fours).
“Syed Abid Ali came in at No.8,” Engineer told me. “I said to him, ‘take it easy as we don’t have much batting to come’. He charged down the pitch and was nearly stumped. I said, ‘What are you doing? Don’t do anything silly.’ Next ball he took an enormous swipe and top-edged it… luckily it went for four. He was carried off in triumph when we squeezed home. People in India to this day talk about that great series win.” Illingworth wrote: “It was a shock. India did it with grim determination… and a bit of charismatic sparkle from Engineer.”
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