An English team raised by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) toured New Zealand from December 1935 to March 1936 and played eight first-class matches including four against the New Zealand national cricket team. MCC also played the main provincial teams, Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago, and ten non-first-class matches against teams from minor cricket associations.[1]
The MCC team was captained by Errol Holmes. The overall tour included a short stopover in Ceylon, where a single minor match was played, and six first-class matches in Australia between October and December 1935.[1]
Bob Wyatt was offered the captaincy but declined, saying he needed a rest.[2] In order to limit the expense of the tour, MCC chose only six professionals (Barber, Hardstaff, Langridge, Parks, Sims and Smith), and there was no manager.[3] The team was the youngest-ever English touring team, with an average age of 26.[4] Holmes judged his team to be "just about representative of England's second XI at the time".[5]
Lyttelton, later known as Viscount Cobham, returned to New Zealand as Governor-General between 1957 and 1962.
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The tour made a financial loss for the New Zealand Cricket Council of £3,000, which was considered severe.[6]