In this week’s edition of In Search of West Indies Cricket, Roger Seymour reviews a book documenting England’s Tour of the West Indies in 1986.
By Roger Seymour
Historians, researchers and writers seeking information on the first three English Test tours of the West Indies (1929/30, 1934/35, and 1947/48) have to rely on the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack (first published in 1964), reports from various English and West Indian newspapers, and snippets gleaned from the few autobiographies of, or books by written former players. After England’s second post-war tour, a subsequent source emerged – the start of a new trend – as two detailed accounts of the visit were published in the same year. Alex Bannister, who covered cricket for the British newspaper, the Daily Mail from 1947 to 1979 wrote “Cricket Cauldron”, and E W Swanton, the famous English journalist and commentator, penned “West Indian Adventure with Hutton’s MCC Team 1953-54”.