The

New Zealand cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Nicknamed the Black Caps (), they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. ...

toured

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the 1967-68 season. They played four first-class matches and three other matches between 17 November and 12 December 1967. It was New Zealand's first dedicated tour to Australia since 1925-26.''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' 1969, pp. 859–63. However, no

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

were played.

The team

* Barry Sinclair (captain) *

Vic Pollard Victor Pollard (born 7 September 1945) is an English-born former Test and One-Day International cricketer and footballer who represented New Zealand at the international level in both sports. Early life A native of Lancashire, his family emigr ...

(vice-captain) *

Jack Alabaster John Chaloner Alabaster (11 July 1930 – 9 April 2024) was a New Zealand cricketer who played 21 Test matches for the country's national team between 1955 and 1972. A leg-spin bowler, he was the only New Zealander to play in each of the count ...

* Mark Burgess * Richard Collinge *

Bevan Congdon Bevan Ernest Congdon (11 February 1938 – 10 February 2018) was a New Zealand cricket all-rounder who played 61 Test matches and 11 One Day Internationals from 1965 to 1978, which included a two-year spell as captain. Captaincy Congdon was c ...

* Roy Harford *

Terry Jarvis Terrence Wayne Jarvis (born 29 July 1944) is a New Zealand businessman and former cricketer who played 13 Test matches for New Zealand between 1965 and 1973. With Glenn Turner, Jarvis holds the opening Test partnership record for New Zealand of ...

Dick Motz Richard Charles Motz (12 January 1940 – 29 April 2007) was a New Zealand cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler and hard-hitting lower order batsman, Motz played 32 Test matches for the New Zealand national cricket team between 1961 and 1969. He ...

* Bruce Murray * Bruce Taylor * Keith Thomson * Bryan Yuile The manager was Joe Ongley.

Bob Cunis Robert Smith Cunis (5 January 1941 – 9 August 2008) played 20 Test matches for New Zealand as a pace bowler between 1964 and 1972, and was later coach of the New Zealand national team from 1987 to 1990. His son Stephen played cricket for Cante ...

had to withdraw from the selected team before the tour owing to a knee injury and was replaced by Collinge. Graham Dowling was unavailable.

Don Neely Donald Owen Neely (21 December 1935 – 16 June 2022) was a New Zealand cricket historian, administrator and player. He served as president of New Zealand Cricket and wrote or co-wrote over 30 books on New Zealand cricket. Early life Neely wa ...

& Richard Payne, ''Men in White: The History of New Zealand International Cricket, 1894–1985'', Moa, Auckland, 1986, pp. 373–377. Burgess, Harford, Murray and Thomson were the only players who had not played Test cricket. All four made their Test debuts in the series against India in New Zealand a few weeks later.

The tour

As three of the team – Murray, Pollard and Yuile – were opposed to Sunday play, the tour schedule was rearranged slightly to avoid Sundays; the Queensland match was reduced from four days to three. The first match was against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. At the end of the third day, the New Zealanders, needing 188 to win, were 67 for 6, with Dick Motz 12 not out. On the last day Motz hit his way to 94, with 10 fours and six sixes, but the New Zealanders still fell for 163, 25 runs short, Eric Freeman taking 8 for 47. The second match, against

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, was drawn, Mark Burgess scoring 98 not out in the first innings, and

Paul Sheahan Andrew Paul Sheahan (born 30 September 1946) is a former Australian international cricketer who played 31 Test matches and three One Day Internationals as an opening and middle order batsman between 1967 and 1973. He made his first-class debu ...

making 161 for Victoria. In the easy victory over a Victorian Country side that followed, Motz hit 76 in 46 minutes, taking four sixes and three fours from one over. The next match, against

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, was drawn. The New Zealanders were in a strong position when rain washed out play on the last day: after declaring and setting Queensland 353 to win, they had taken two wickets for 44. In the first innings Pollard scored the New Zealanders' only century of the tour, 125 in four hours; Murray made 98.

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

won the last match by 131 runs, led by the speed and swing of David Renneberg and

Grahame Corling Grahame Edward Corling (born 13 July 1941) is a former Australian cricketer who played in five Test matches in 1964. He took 12 wickets, including that of Geoffrey Boycott in his debut innings. Grahame grew up in Waratah, New South Wales War ...

, who each took eight wickets in the match. Murray, the opening batsman, made 45 and 60. Murray was the leading run-scorer, with 351 runs at an average of 43.87. Taylor took the most wickets, 13 at 25.00.

References

External links

New Zealand in Australia, 1967-68
at

Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

New Zealand in Australia 1967-68
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:New Zealand cricket team in Australia in 1967-68 1967 in New Zealand cricket 1967 in Australian cricket 1967-68 Australian cricket seasons from 1945–46 to 1969–70