English cricket team in the West Indies in 1912–13 explained

The seventh team of English cricketers toured the West Indies in the 1912–13 season. The tour was organised by MCC. As in 1910–11, the team was captained by AWF Somerset. The tour involved a total of 9 matches, all of which are regarded as first-class, between January and March 1913.

The players

A party of 13 was taken:

Arthur Somerset senior, his son Arthur Somerset junior, Burton, Sydney Smith and Whittington had toured with the previous MCC team of 1910–11. Three good professionals were included, Humphreys, Relf and Razor Smith. Burton, Sydney Smith and Whittington had performed well on the previous tour and were arguably the best of the amateurs. As in the previous MCC tour the remaining players had little first-class experience. Despite being 57 years old the captain kept wicket in all the matches.

The tour

The side arrived in Barbados on the RMS Magdalena on 27 January.

Matches played were:

Of the nine first class matches played in Barbados, Trinidad and British Guiana, five were won, three lost and one drawn.

The tourists lost the first two matches against Barbados by an innings but then defeated a West Indies XI with Humphreys taking 13 wickets.

Moving on to Trinidad, the tourists won the first match but were lucky to draw the second. In the second match against the West Indies XI, Ince made 167 for the home side and they won by an innings. Cumberbatch was bowled when he shouldered his bat because he had been distracted by leaves blowing across the pitch. Given out by the umpire, he appealed to Somerset and was allowed to continue his innings, a sporting gesture by the captain. Burton and the captain added 89 for the last wicket in the MCC second innings and were only separated with 20 minutes remaining.

In British Guiana, the two matches against the colony were won comfortably and the third match against the West Indies XI was also won by 10 wickets with Humphreys scoring a century adding 152 with Whittington. Jaques and the captain added 80 for the last wicket. Moulder carried his bat in the West Indies second innings.

The three professionals headed the batting averages and, with Sydney Smith, took most of the wickets. Burton, Whittington and Sydney Smith also performed well with the bat.

Averages

The following averages are from the 9 first class matches (Batting Bowling).

Batting

align=left Player !P I NO R HS Ave 100 50 C/S
align=left AE Relf 9 15 2 538 92 41.38 4 10
align=left E Humphreys 9 15 1 561 106 40.07 2 1 8
align=left WC Smith 4 6 2 132 126 33.00 1 7
align=left DCF Burton 8 13 1 378 71 31.50 3 4
align=left TAL Whittington 6 9 0 252 62 28.00 3 2
align=left SG Smith 9 15 1 354 71 25.28 3 6
align=left AWF Somerset 9 13 4 192 55* 21.33 1 9/2
align=left SG Fairbairn 8 14 2 241 62* 20.08 1 3
align=left MHC Doll 8 13 0 239 52 18.38 2 3
align=left BP Dobson 7 13 2 159 55* 14.45 1 2
align=left GAM Docker 7 11 2 129 36* 14.33 2
align=left A Jaques 8 13 4 106 48 11.77 10
align=left APFC Somerset 7 11 1 97 34 9.70 2

Bowling

align=left Player !O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m
align=left E Humphreys 250.5 54 670 40 7–75 16.75 5 1
align=left SG Smith 220 60 532 29 6–45 18.34 1
align=left AE Relf 204.5 55 506 22 5–32 23.00 1
align=left A Jaques 40 6 145 5 2–31 29.00
align=left SG Fairbairn 100 14 373 12 3–55 31.08
align=left MHC Doll 66.2 11 291 9 5–52 32.33 1
align=left GAM Docker 35 0 169 5 2–66 33.80
align=left WC Smith 96 25 268 5 2–116 53.60
align=left APFC Somerset 67 7 254 4 2–45 63.50

External sources

Annual reviews

Further reading